Hope for Humanity

Human beings' relationship to trauma is remarkable in two ways: firstly, in our vulnerability to it. The human psyche is amazingly delicate and pliable, so sensitive that any exposure to stress or difficulty can damage it. And in the majority of cases, this damage is very difficult to heal. Particularly during childhood, a degree of trauma can affect us – even dominate us – for the rest of our lives, and even ruin our lives. The second way in which our relationship to trauma is remarkable is in our propensity to inflict it on each other. All recorded history is a depressing saga of groups of human beings inflicting trauma on other groups – other classes, castes, ethnic groups, nations – through warfare and oppression. But perhaps even more depressing is the trauma that adults have routinely inflicted on children, through parental neglect or cruelty, or simply through brutal childrearing practices, or socially-sanctioned forms of violence such as genital mutilation. The interweaving of these two factors means that trauma has always been a massive presence in human life. In this book, Malcolm Hollick and Christine Connelly, go even further: they suggest that trauma is the root cause of most human suffering, and is responsible for the present crisis of our civilisation. Hope for Humanity is a book of massive scope, covering thousands of years of history, surveying cultures and societies across the globe, and journeying deep into the human psyche. Such 'macrocosmic' books can sometimes be dangerous – there's the danger of dilettantism, of covering so much ground that you're not able to investigate any area with proper scholarly thoroughness, and of the authors' being overwhelmed by their own material, and losing their bearings. However, Hollick and Connelly avoid this danger, partly by their ability to condense and summarise masses of information from different sources, and partly because the book is so clearly structured.

The early part of the book has a welcome historical perspective, normally absent from psychological research. Using my book The Fall as one of their sources, the authors suggest that early human beings were relatively free of trauma. When we lived as hunter-gatherers – in fact, the vast majority of our lifespan as a species – human groups were generally peaceful and egalitarian, and child-rearing practises seem to have been (at least judging by contemporary hunter-gatherer groups) benevolent and affectionate. Trauma became a real presence in human life following 'The Fall' – a cataclysmic cultural change which occurred during the 4th millennium BC, beginning in the Central Asia and the Middle East, when pathological traits such as male domination, hierarchy, oppression and constant warfare became the norm.

The central part of the book describes the various types of trauma which can affect us at different stages of our life. As the relatively new theory of epigenetics shows, trauma can be inherited; when it afflicts an individual, it causes biological changes which are then passed down through our genes. Trauma can also affect us before birth. Research has shown that a foetus can be damaged or traumatised by noise and arguments, or by the mother's stress, depression and loneliness, as well as physical problems. And of course, during infancy and childhood, vulnerability to trauma is massive, and probably the largest single source of trauma. As the authors point out, until the 20th century, child-rearing practices were routinely so brutal that probably every child was traumatised to a large degree. They quote the historian Lloyd de Mause: 'The further back in history one goes, the lower the level of child care, and the more likely children are to be killed, abandoned, beaten, terrorised and sexually abused.'

In my view, this is one of the most significant changes of the present time: that, in some parts of the world at least, childrearing has become much more benevolent. Practices like swaddling have been abandoned, physical violence to children is no longer socially acceptable; many mothers feed on demand and attend to babies when they cry (instead of leaving them to 'cry it out'); and fathers are generally move involved with childcare. As a result, a new generation of less traumatised human beings is emerging – young adults whose psyches are comparatively undamaged, and who are therefore more able to build rich relationships and fulfilling lives. Hollick and Connelly suggest that it isn't as clear cut as this, citing research showing that child maltreatment is still common in developed countries. But surely there's no doubt that the degree of maltreatment has decreased. This book is highly informative and readable, but that doesn't mean that it's a pleasurable read. One of my initial responses – especially to the central section of the book – was to feel anxious for my three young children. For a moment I felt almost guilty that I'd brought them into this world, where they can be traumatised so deeply and easily, from such a massive array of sources. I felt worried for their future - although at the same time determined to continue to do as much as I can to protect them from trauma, and to nurture them as positively as possible.

But at the same time Hollick and Connelly make it clear that the future isn't hopeless. The last section of the book is a wide-ranging blueprint for the transcendence of trauma, through personal development, therapy and social reform. The authors highlight the importance of reducing childhood trauma, partly through government initiatives to encourage good parenting. As individuals, we can increase our personal resilience, and develop resources to deal with traumatic events, including rituals or ceremonies for releasing tension. We can heal our traumatised psyches through meditation and therapies. On a societal level, the authors suggest measures such as community building, peace-building with processes of forgiveness and reconciliation, and emphasising partnership over competition.

I would argue that Hollick and Connelly don't give enough attention to the positive after-effects of trauma. Recent research into 'post-traumatic growth' has found that people often emerge from turmoil and trauma with an increased sense of appreciation, a wider perspective, increased confidence and deepened spirituality. In my own new book, Out of the Darkness – reviewed by Malcolm Hollick below – I tell the stories of over 30 people who underwent spiritual transformation after periods of intense turmoil. For them, turmoil and trauma were the catalysts for the emergence of a new, higher and more integrated state of being.

Nevertheless, Hope for Humanity is an extremely impressive – even momentous – book, filled with an urgent desire to diagnose our sickness as a species and to offer healing to our damaged collective psyche. The era of trauma we have been living through over the last few thousands may only be a dark night of the soul, a phase of intense suffering which is slowly leading to collective 'post-traumatic growth' – transformation even – so that eventually we will emerge into a new, harmonious and integrated era.