Collective Trauma, Political Violence, and the Imperative for Integrated Mental Health Responses

Societies exposed to long-term and critical political violence, repression, and collective loss suffer not only immediate psychological distress but also enduring, multi-layered trauma that modifies individual subjectivity, family dynamics, and sociocultural meaning-making. In recent years, especially these days, Iran has witnessed a convergence of recurrent crises—including mass violence, loss of life, social fragmentation, economic insecurity, and perceived collapse of future orientation—that have placed unprecedented strain on the psychological resilience of its population. This editorial sheds light on some of the psychological, intergenerational, and psychosomatic consequences of such conditions, with particular attention to the reactivation of historical political traumas, as well as the risk of collective violence turned inward, and the emergence of suicide clusters in contexts of social defeat and hopelessness. Relying on international evidence, regional comparisons, and clinical observations, it supports a preliminary, multisystem mental health promotion aligned with global guidelines while remaining adaptable to Iran's sociocultural context. However, this concept paper draws on established trauma and mental health frameworks, psychosocial support, and the author's clinical observations; it does not present primary epidemiological data from Iran.