The Devastating Psychological Effects of War on Societies: Collective Psychological Trauma, with Sudanese Society as a Case Study (1–3)

Dr Ahmed Abdulbaqi
Throughout history, ancient and modern, the world has witnessed numerous disasters and major tragedies that have dealt devastating blows to affected societies, leaving deep psychological scars in their wake. These include the horrors of the two World Wars; ethnic cleansing in Rwanda and Bosnia and Herzegovina; the crimes of the former apartheid regime in South Africa; the war against the Palestinian people; tsunamis; and the victims of earthquakes.
These events have had a profound psychological impact, weakening the social fabric of the affected communities and undermining the stability, unity and resilience of their states. This has occurred through their effects on social consciousness, political identity and patterns of collective behaviour. Although some of these societies have recovered to a degree through various responses, the repercussions persist.
The danger of collective psychological trauma lies in the fact that it does not merely cause disturbances in the psychological make-up of individuals; it also permeates a society’s collective memory and reshapes political affiliations and national identity. Most alarming of all, collective psychological trauma may drive a society towards moderation or extremism, reconciliation or division, depending on how political, social and religious institutions manage the response to the trauma, as well as the strength and resilience of social cohesion.
In the modern era, many societies, particularly following the end of the Cold War, have experienced collective psychological trauma arising from geopolitical changes, the changing nature of armed conflicts and the emergence of non-state actors, including insurgent movements and proxy warfare. This is evident in the ongoing war inflicted on Sudanese society, with its grave social repercussions, whose effects will extend to future generations.
Given the importance of this issue, this contribution examines the collective trauma caused by the war waged by the rebel Rapid Support Forces (RSF) against Sudanese society and its catastrophic implications for the country’s future.
This discussion comes as the world marks World Mental Health Day, observed every year on 10 October. The United Nations has commemorated this day since 1992 and has developed a forward-looking framework for mental health care. Member States of the World Health Organisation (WHO) are committed to implementing the Comprehensive Mental Health Action Plan 2013–2030, which seeks to improve mental health by developing and implementing plans to promote it. Ironically, by 2020, country performance reports—including Sudan’s—showed that efforts were insufficient to implement the planned measures, and work to achieve better outcomes remains ongoing.
In 2026, the world marked World Mental Health Day under the theme: “We Hear the Voices of Those with Lived Experience: Real Voices, Real Change.”
In keeping with this theme, we, as members of society, wish to reflect openly and collectively on the suffering of those experiencing collective psychological trauma caused by the crimes of murder, rape, theft and forced detention committed by the rebel RSF against all sections of the Sudanese people, indiscriminately, in every part of the country it attacked.
These psychological effects will not remain merely a historical event that we recall each year on its anniversary. Rather, they constitute a painful collective trauma whose repercussions may extend across generations. These incidents will become an enduring tragedy in the collective memory of Sudanese society, with successive generations revisiting the trauma repeatedly and continuously in an attempt to understand it.
The effects of this collective trauma will also extend to those displaced within Sudan and those who have fled abroad, as they watch, hear or read reports—particularly on social media—about the atrocities that have been committed and others that may yet be perpetrated in the days ahead.
What Is Collective Psychological Trauma?
Collective psychological trauma is a state of profound psychological pain and breakdown that affects an entire human community as a result of exposure to a major or sudden event characterised by violence, loss or an existential threat, such as war, disasters, massacres, occupation or bloody revolutions.
It is measured not merely by the number of casualties or the scale of material losses, but also by its impact on collective consciousness and its capacity to undermine the affected group’s sense of security, meaning and identity.
The American psychologist Kai Erikson defined it as:
“A fundamental destruction of the social fabric that binds people together, and a change in social relationships that weakens individuals’ perception of their identity, their community and their place in the world.”
In this sense, collective trauma becomes a dual experience: it is psychological in terms of its internal effects, but social in terms of its reach and consequences.
Unlike individual trauma, collective trauma gives rise to what is known as “trauma memory”—a form of social representation that develops into a central narrative in the construction of national or sectarian identity, influencing politics, education, the media and relations between different groups.
Consequently, affected societies do not merely seek to overcome their pain; they also seek to assign it meaning within a broader symbolic framework. This makes trauma a powerful factor in creating legitimacy or demanding it.
(Collective Psychological Trauma and Its Impact on Political Transformations in Modern History: An Analytical Study, Assistant Lecturer Ahmed Fran Mishaan and Dr Hatem Ahmed Owaid.)
To be continued…

Shortlink: https://sudanhorizon.com/?p=19197