How to Emerge from Our Current ‘Death Spiral,’ Session 1

Special Topics in One World or None

*The Zoom Link for today’s live session is far below.

How do we pull ourselves out of our current “Death Spiral”? I have previously stated that we are currently living in a “Psychological Age,” and that nothing short of a spiritual transformation could confront the problem of our survival. The task may seem daunting, if not impossible, but less so if we consider that humanity may be conceived as a collection of individuals, but also as One.

For the next nine weeks, we will explore our collective consciousness, which I have also dubbed, “spiritual consciousness.” The difference between ordinary and spiritual consciousness can be seen as the difference of fragmentation versus unity. Evidence that we are all interconnected can be found in the phenomenon of social contagion, which is our theme for today.

I have often spoken about Trump Contagion in our context. I warned during his first presidency that, were he not contained properly, his symptoms—his pathology, criminality, and violence—would spread and eventually become uncontainable. This is also why we declared him a public health emergency, having nothing to do with his politics or individual style. In March 2020, at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in the United States, the World Mental Health Coalition issued a “Prescription for Survival” to highlight how his removal, or at least removal of his influence, was necessary for survival. Because we failed, Americans suffered 1.2 million deaths, the greatest in the world. We noted that the underlying, “mental health pandemic,” was more serious and more infectious. It required only emotional bonds, not physical exposure, and largely became the reason for his gaining even more votes for his second presidency.

There are many other contagions happening today, such as nuclear contagion or climate destruction contagion—but contagion does not always have to be negative. Indeed, synchronicity is vital to the proper functioning of cells, organs, organisms, and organizations, and contagion can help bring it about. It can operate through mechanisms such as emotional resonance, imitation, and social learning.

One foundational mechanism of social contagion is emotional contagion, or the tendency to “catch” others’ emotions (Hatfield et al., 1994). People unconsciously mimic facial expressions, postures, and vocal tones, which leads to emotional alignment. For example, watching someone laugh or cry can elicit similar emotional reactions in observers, contributing to social bonding and group cohesion.

Emotional contagion can also occur through social learning. Through observation and imitation in learning behavior, individuals, especially those in uncertain or ambiguous situations, look to others as models (Bandura, 1977). If a behavior appears to be rewarded or accepted, it is all the more imitated. This is especially evident among adolescents, whose identities and behaviors are still unformed and thus heavily shaped by peer influence.

In the digital era, social contagion is particularly potent. Social media platforms serve as fertile grounds for the rapid dissemination of ideas, expressions, and behaviors. Research shows that negative emotions such as anger spread more quickly and broadly than neutral content (Brady et al., 2017), and mental symptoms such as delusions, being highly emotionally-charged, potentially even more so (Fusar-Poli et al. (2022). Movement disorders such as tics have also been shown to surge among adolescents (Hull and Parnes, 2021), while studies have documented increases in suicide, or “the Werther effect” (Phillips, 1974), and mass shootings (Towers et al., 2015), following media coverage, in a kind of behavioral contagion. Similarly, disordered eating behaviors have been shown to spread within peer groups and online communities that idealize thinness (Cruwys, Leverington, and Sheldon, 2016).

Biologically, the mirror neuron system, identified in the premotor cortex, activates in similar ways both when one performs a certain act and when one observes another performing that act (Rizzolatti and Craighero, 2004). This system appears to support emotional resonance and behavioral mimicry.

The limbic system, especially the amygdala, processes emotional stimuli. When someone witnesses fear, anger, or joy, for example, their own amygdala responds, often triggering the same emotion internally (Decety and Jackson, 2004). Oxytocin, a hormone that increases empathy and social bonding, enhances this emotional resonance (Zak, 2005). Functional neuroimaging studies show shared neural circuits when individuals perceive others' pain or distress (Singer et al., 2004). Additionally, autonomic synchrony, such as matching facial expressions or heart rates, reinforces group cohesion (Konvalinka et al., 2011).

While social contagion can promote empathy and cooperation, it can also spread fear, misinformation, or harmful behaviors, especially in emotionally-charged settings. French crowd psychologist Gustave Le Bon (1895) argued that, in crowds, individuals lose self-control to give into collective impulses. French sociologist Émile Durkheim (1912) coined the concept of “collective effervescence,” in describing how emotional energy generated in groups can synchronize to drive behavior, such as in religious rituals or social movements.

From a sociological perspective, social contagion reveals how societal norms, group dynamics, and institutional forces shape individual and collective actions. In the modern setting, these do not include just social networks with close ties, such as friends and community, but also with contacts across three degrees of separation (Christakis and Fowler, 2007). Social contagion therefore explains the rapid spread of social norms, political ideologies, and protest behavior—especially in the age of digital media, where ideas can go “viral” and restructure public discourse almost instantaneously.

These conditions further predispose to mass shared psychosis, or folie à millions (“madness among millions”), which results when psychiatric symptoms such as irrational beliefs or maladaptive behaviors are adopted en masse (Fromm, 1941). The symptoms usually spread from a dominant, primary individual to secondary, dependent individuals (Lasègue and Falret, 1877), such as leader to followers. The mechanism is thought to involve emotional overidentification, suggestibility, and isolation from reality testing, which can happen through propaganda, disinformation, cult-like conditions, and “inoculation” against real news. Extreme examples may involve moral panics, cult ideologies, or mass political delusions (Lifton, 1969). They illustrate how paranoia, persecution fantasies, or delusions of grandeur can spread societally without individuals being clinically mentally ill (Bion, 1961).

Treatment involves removal of exposure, which often leads to remission in the secondary individuals, even nations (Lee, 2020)—while the primary individual usually requires medication and possibly hospitalization. For other contagions, structural changes may be necessary.

Understanding social contagion is crucial to public mental health promotion and education. While it can lead to the spread of psychiatric symptoms, it can also be redirected for good: such as prosocial norms, cooperative activities, and mental health promotion. Shaping societal structures and digital spaces strategically to allow for healthy, productive behavior may be the key to harnessing our interconnectedness for healing.

In the next sessions, we will delve further into the Collective Mind, the Collective Self-Observer, humanity’s suicidal trajectory, and creative paths to recovery.

Announcement:

Dr. Bandy X. Lee is inviting you to a live session in a series: