Trauma is a broad term used to describe emotional and physical stresses resulting from violent and seriously disruptive life experiences. Collective trauma recognizes that experiences of violence and disruption often impact groups or populations – and not simply unfortunate individuals.

Collective trauma emerges when communities are exposed to shocking, violent, and other disruptive experiences such as forced dislocation, natural disasters, war, attacks on human rights, and oppressive systems and institutions that prevent people from being able to meet their basic needs, exercise human rights, develop a sense of safety and self-worth, and create, maintain, and nurture an empowering shared collective identity. These experiences can lead to long-term health and social challenges best addressed through models of collective healing to expose the underlying conditions that caused harm and to foster individual and collective meaning, validation, honor, resiliency, solidarity, and healing.

The events and conditions that give rise to collective trauma include war, mass incarceration, forced dislocation and family separation, natural disasters, attacks on human rights, and discriminatory or oppressive policies and practices that prevent groups of people from meeting their basic needs, developing a sense of agency, safety and self-worth, and nurturing a positive shared identity.

Examples of collective trauma studied by researchers include the aftermath of genocide such as the Nazi Holocaust, “ethnic cleansings” such as mass sexual violence triggered by the disintegration of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Rajiva & Takševa, 2021), natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina or the 2004 tsunami in Sri Lanka, pandemics such as Covid-19, localized violence such as school shootings, terrorist events such as 9/11 as well as the violence and discrimination against people perceived as Muslim following the 9/11 attacks, and government-supported threats such as the current brutalities inflicted on immigrant and other American communities by ICE.

While collective trauma has been documented throughout the world, the forms it takes differ due to cultural factors, human and material resources available in a given community, the social and economic status of the impacted group, whether the trauma-inducing factors are ongoing or resolved, and the content and context of the experiences that give rise to trauma.

A variety of “trauma” terms emphasize overlapping aspects of collective trauma. Identifying these aspects allows us to consider the diverse circumstances, manifestations, and implications of collective trauma.

Community trauma gets at shared identities and living spaces. It can describe the aftermath of harmful actions perpetrated internally within a community or externally by outsiders to the community. A current example of this would be the way in which ICE is terrorizing immigrant communities – making people fearful of leaving their homes.

Mass trauma gets at the size of the groups impacted and often describes the aftermath of wartime rape and violence or large-scale natural disasters such as earthquakes or tsunamis.

Structural trauma emphasizes ways in which violence of various sorts is built into laws and social practices. Often invisible or unrecognized, structural trauma calls attention to the range of social, political, and economic structures that harm groups or populations. For example, many school districts have covertly codified the prioritization of white, middle-class students and families. These patterns historically marginalize students from oppressed identity groups, creating an overall feeling of worthlessness and lack of belief in their ability to succeed.

Systemic trauma broadens the lens to include racial and gendered stereotypes, discriminatory barriers to attaining desired social statuses, and contextual factors such as education and media that underpin unequal or discriminatory social structures.

Institutional trauma focuses on how particular organizations and agencies perpetuate trauma through hierarchical and oppressive practices (Thompson, 2021). It often is used to describe ways in which misdeeds perpetrated by institutions (particularly “total institutions” such as prisons, hospitals, boarding schools, etc.) can cause trauma to the individuals who depend on or are forcibly contained in that institution.

Institutional betrayal emphasizes the impact of institutional action and inaction that can worsen the effects of traumatic experiences through failures to prevent or respond appropriately to offenses committed by or within the institution.

Transgenerational or intergenerational trauma emphasizes the transmission of trauma to the children of individuals who experienced violent or severely disruptive events. Some studies highlight the harms caused by impaired parenting abilities of traumatized mothers and fathers or the lack of parenting knowledge among individuals whose family lives were disrupted at a young age. Other studies focus on the likelihood that the same conditions of structural violence that traumatized one generation continue to impact subsequent generations (Salter et al., 2025).

Historical trauma highlights the cumulative harm experienced by oppressed or marginalized groups over generations and/or in the distant past. It can be transmitted through familial as well as public or cultural narratives and behaviors.

Racial trauma addresses the particularly insidious impacts of historical and current racism in the United States and elsewhere. It emphasizes historical and ongoing economic and social inequalities and racialized violence, as well as the demeaning stereotypes and narratives imposed on people of color (Watson, 2024).

Gendered trauma refers to the widespread and ongoing sexual and domestic abuse experienced by groups socially marked as inferior or as “other.” Focus on gendered trauma reveals that “sexual violence is a problem of catastrophic proportions” in that it “victimizes not only those women who are directly attacked, but all women” (Brison, 2002: 19, 17–18).

Cultural trauma emphasizes the loss of collective identity and meaning-making in the wake of collective loss or disaster (Alexander et al., 2004). This term often applies to situations of colonization or exile in which the language and religion of Indigenous or forcibly displaced communities are belittled or destroyed.

Complex trauma highlights prolonged or ongoing exposure to multiple types of traumatic events. Examples include intimate partner violence, childhood neglect and abuse, loss of bodily freedom (e.g., solitary confinement, slavery), and interpersonal stressors purposefully planned and caused by others.

Vicarious / secondary trauma refers to the emotional effects of hearing about other people’s horrific experiences. This type of trauma often is experienced by mental health providers and practitioners who work with highly traumatized populations. Secondary trauma may impact overall morale within an organization. For example, staff at homeless shelters and teachers at schools may be deeply affected by what they see their clients and students endure. This can lead to burnout and personnel turnover, further harming both clients/students and remaining staff. It is helpful for practitioners to acknowledge the collective dimension of these experiences.

A variety of “trauma” terms emphasize overlapping aspects of collective trauma. Identifying these aspects allows us to consider the diverse circumstances, manifestations, and implications of collective trauma.

Community trauma gets at shared identities and living spaces. It can describe the aftermath of harmful actions perpetrated internally within a community or externally by outsiders to the community. A current example of this would be the way in which ICE is terrorizing immigrant communities – making people fearful of leaving their homes.

Mass trauma gets at the size of the groups impacted and often describes the aftermath of wartime rape and violence or large-scale natural disasters such as earthquakes or tsunamis.

Structural trauma emphasizes ways in which violence of various sorts is built into laws and social practices. Often invisible or unrecognized, structural trauma calls attention to the range of social, political, and economic structures that harm groups or populations. For example, many school districts have covertly codified the prioritization of white, middle-class students and families. These patterns historically marginalize students from oppressed identity groups, creating an overall feeling of worthlessness and lack of belief in their ability to succeed.

Systemic trauma broadens the lens to include racial and gendered stereotypes, discriminatory barriers to attaining desired social statuses, and contextual factors such as education and media that underpin unequal or discriminatory social structures.

Institutional trauma focuses on how particular organizations and agencies perpetuate trauma through hierarchical and oppressive practices (Thompson, 2021). It often is used to describe ways in which misdeeds perpetrated by institutions (particularly “total institutions” such as prisons, hospitals, boarding schools, etc.) can cause trauma to the individuals who depend on or are forcibly contained in that institution.

Institutional betrayal emphasizes the impact of institutional action and inaction that can worsen the effects of traumatic experiences through failures to prevent or respond appropriately to offenses committed by or within the institution.

Transgenerational or intergenerational trauma emphasizes the transmission of trauma to the children of individuals who experienced violent or severely disruptive events. Some studies highlight the harms caused by impaired parenting abilities of traumatized mothers and fathers or the lack of parenting knowledge among individuals whose family lives were disrupted at a young age. Other studies focus on the likelihood that the same conditions of structural violence that traumatized one generation continue to impact subsequent generations (Salter et al., 2025).

Historical trauma highlights the cumulative harm experienced by oppressed or marginalized groups over generations and/or in the distant past. It can be transmitted through familial as well as public or cultural narratives and behaviors.

Racial trauma addresses the particularly insidious impacts of historical and current racism in the United States and elsewhere. It emphasizes historical and ongoing economic and social inequalities and racialized violence, as well as the demeaning stereotypes and narratives imposed on people of color (Watson, 2024).

Gendered trauma refers to the widespread and ongoing sexual and domestic abuse experienced by groups socially marked as inferior or as “other.” Focus on gendered trauma reveals that “sexual violence is a problem of catastrophic proportions” in that it “victimizes not only those women who are directly attacked, but all women” (Brison, 2002: 19, 17–18).

Cultural trauma emphasizes the loss of collective identity and meaning-making in the wake of collective loss or disaster (Alexander et al., 2004). This term often applies to situations of colonization or exile in which the language and religion of Indigenous or forcibly displaced communities are belittled or destroyed.

Complex trauma highlights prolonged or ongoing exposure to multiple types of traumatic events. Examples include intimate partner violence, childhood neglect and abuse, loss of bodily freedom (e.g., solitary confinement, slavery), and interpersonal stressors purposefully planned and caused by others.

Vicarious / secondary trauma refers to the emotional effects of hearing about other people’s horrific experiences. This type of trauma often is experienced by mental health providers and practitioners who work with highly traumatized populations. Secondary trauma may impact overall morale within an organization. For example, staff at homeless shelters and teachers at schools may be deeply affected by what they see their clients and students endure. This can lead to burnout and personnel turnover, further harming both clients/students and remaining staff. It is helpful for practitioners to acknowledge the collective dimension of these experiences.

Attention to collective trauma is a useful addition to the individual focus characteristic of many medical, social service, educational, and correctional settings.

Addressing collective trauma calls for models of collective healing. Collective healing exposes underlying structural conditions and fosters validation, honor, resiliency, and solidarity.

One of the best-known models for collective healing, developed by Judith Herman, outlines three stages: safety and stabilization; remembrance and mourning; and reconnection and integration.

Some societies transform traumatic collective memory into bonding experiences through memorials, rituals, shared learning, and other collective practices designed to connect communities as narratives evolve over time.

Gilad Hirschberger’s (2018) work highlights the role of Holocaust Memorial Day and the Holocaust Museum in Israel. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC is another example of how acknowledging collective trauma can lead to processes of collective healing.

Some of the most compelling examples of collective healing highlight political activism, art, music, and concerted efforts to eliminate the root causes of trauma (Leng, 2025).

Alexander, Jeffrey C., Ron Eyerman, Bernhard Giesen, Neil J. Smelser, and Piotr Sztompka. 2004. Cultural Trauma and Collective Identity. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

Brison, Susan. 2002. Aftermath: Violence and the Remaking of a Self. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Herman, Judith. 1993. Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence—from Domestic Abuse to Political Terror. New York: Basic Books.

Hirschberger, Gilad. 2018. “Collective Trauma and the Social Construction of Meaning.” Frontiers in Psychology 9 (1441). https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01441

Leng, Junxiao. 2025. “Collectivizing Trauma: Everyday Experiences, Empathy, and Grassroots Activism in Japan’s Flower Demonstration against Sexual Violence.” Feminist Media Studies 25 (2): 284–302. https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2023.2297162

Pain, R. 2021. “Collective trauma? Isolating and commoning gender-based violence.” Gender, Place & Culture 29 (12): 1788–1809. https://doi.org/10.1080/0966369X.2021.1975103

Rajiva, M., & Takševa, T. 2021. “Thinking against trauma binaries: The interdependence of personal and collective trauma in the narratives of Bosnian women rape survivors.” Feminist Theory 22 (3): 405–427.

Salter, M., et al. 2025. “I see it running through my family”: The intergenerational and collective trauma of gender-based violence. Journal of Family Trauma, Child Custody & Child Development, 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/26904586.2024.2443843

Thompson, L. 2021. “Toward a feminist psychological theory of ‘institutional trauma.’” Feminism & Psychology 31 (1): 99–118. https://doi.org/10.1177/0959353520968374

Watson, Marlene F. 2024. “Caste and Black Intergenerational Racial Trauma in the United States of America.” Family Process 63 (2): 475–487. https://doi.org/10.1111/famp.12955