How Trauma and Toxic Machismo Killed Love and Belonging
Some human needs are universal, but trauma and culture wars may have convinced survivors otherwise.
Too many people simply exist in survival mode. Noticing this may be one of the perils of my work, but the mental health statistics are sobering. Covid-19 added economic disruptions and uncertainty to other factors that feed directly into mental health deterioration, like housing, food, and financial insecurity.
My expertise is not in the “hard” stuff. I can’t give financial advice.
But in the area of well-being, I want to talk about how isolation, past trauma, and unsafe relationships keep some people in a perpetual survival state. Understanding this could be key to our health.
Love and Belonging as a Universal Human Need
Human beings are social animals; we evolved to interact and communicate to survive in groups.
The bio-psycho-social approach to mental health recognizes that our need for socialization is innate, crucial to childhood emotional development, and necessary for a sense of well-being.
The need for other people is literally in our nervous systems.
