The Symptom of a Deeper Illness
The shooting of Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University is being framed as another instance of political violence. But if we look beneath the surface, it reflects something more primal and urgent: America’s collective mental health crisis.
And today, it wasn’t only Utah—in Colorado, three students were critically wounded in a high school shooting. Two separate acts of violence on the same day remind us: this is not isolated.
These eruptions are symptoms—expressions of unresolved traumaTrauma refers to the emotional and psychological response to a deeply distressing or disturbing even…, untreated illness, and the slow fraying of a culture that no longer knows how to metabolize its inner life.
A Nation in Psychological Freefall
Psychodynamic theoryPsychodynamic Theory is a framework that emphasizes the influence of unconscious processes, early ch… reminds us that behavior is never just behavior—it is communication. Behind violent outbursts, addictive spirals, or self-harm lies an unspoken message: I am overwhelmed. I cannot contain what I feel. Help me.
We see this message everywhere:
In the staggering rise of youth suicide.
In epidemic levels of anxiety, loneliness, and substance abuse.
In the way our public discourse has grown more polarized, more aggressive, and less capable of tolerating difference.
When inner worlds are fragile, the social fabric mirrors that fragility. What happened today—in both Utah and Colorado—was not just about individuals; it was about a collective psyche coming apart at the seams.
The Roots of Violence, Despair, and Disconnection
Unprocessed trauma does not disappear—it reemerges, displaced and disguised.
For some, it turns inward in depression, shame, or suicidal despair. For others, it bursts outward in violence, projectionProjection is a defense mechanism where individuals attribute their own unwanted thoughts, feelings,…, and rage. The common denominator is psychic pain that has nowhere safe to go.
But this crisis is not just about trauma. It is also a crisis of meaning, purpose, and connectedness.
More and more, people feel unmoored from community, isolated in digital echo chambers, and detached from a sense of belonging. When individuals lack purpose and connection, despair metastasizes. Violence becomes one distorted way of feeling significant, of being seen, of discharging unbearable emptiness.
This is why mental health cannot be treated as a “personal issue” alone. The breakdown of inner containment and the erosion of collective meaning have communal consequences.
The Role of Social Media
Social media has poured gasoline on this fire. Platforms are engineered to keep us hooked by triggering outrage, comparison, and fear of missing out.
The endless highlight reels fuel feelings of inadequacy and self-doubt, while algorithm-driven echo chambers deepen polarization and mistrust. Staring into a phone much of the day makes us less connected to the people in our lives, research shows it has plunged empathyEmpathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another person. In psychodynamic ther… and social attunement in generations raised on devices.
Although, paradoxically, we’re more “connected” than ever we are profoundly isolated. Younger generations, raised in this digital landscape, face staggering rates of anxiety, depression, and identity confusion—often in direct proportion to the pressure to curate a flawless online persona.
Social media doesn’t just reflect the crisis; it amplifies it.
If we’re serious about addressing our collective mental health, we need to rethink how these technologies shape our sense of self and community. Healthier boundariesBoundaries in group therapy are the limits established to maintain a safe and respectful environment…, real-life connection, and reclaiming presence must become part of the solution.
Political Insanity and Manufactured Extremes
Overlaying all of this is the political insanity we’ve been subjected to, fueled daily by media outlets that thrive on outrage.
The relentless drumbeat of partisan headlines has carved deep trenches in our national psyche, creating extremists on both ends of the spectrum. Instead of cultivating dialogue or curiosity, our media environment rewards polarization, mistrust, and demonization.
This doesn’t just distort politics—it corrodes our collective mental health. A society taught to view neighbors as enemies loses the connective tissue that sustains meaning and community. It erodes our collective mental health.
The mental health crisis is inseparable from this climate of division, where rage and fear are monetized and where individuals already on the edge are pushed further into extremity.
When you combine untreated mental health issues with the accelerants of social media and political polarization, you get a volatile mix. The algorithms reward outrage, the media amplifies division, and individuals already struggling with trauma or despair can be pulled into extremist thinking. These forces collide and sometimes erupt in the kind of extreme, devastating act we witnessed today.
America’s Avoidance
We live in a culture that prizes productivity and quick fixes. But the psyche resists shortcuts.
You cannot medicate away loneliness, legislate away despair, or scroll away anxiety. Without depth, without meaning, the unspoken parts of our lives return—louder, darker, and more desperate.
In this light, today’s shootings become less isolated acts and more eruptions of what we have all been avoiding: the truth that we are a nation flooded with uncontained psychological suffering, disconnected from ourselves and one another.
A Path Forward
If America is to recover, we need more than policy responses or partisan statements. We need:
Spaces of containment. Schools, workplaces, and communities must allow emotional processingEmotional Processing involves the ability to recognize, express, and integrate emotions related to t…, not just crisis managementCrisis Management refers to the immediate response strategies employed to help individuals experienc….
Normalize depth. Therapy must be recognized as central to health.
Investment in prevention. Trauma-informed careTrauma-Informed Care is an approach to therapy that recognizes the widespread impact of trauma and e… and long-term therapeutic relationships save lives.
Rebuilding meaning and connectedness. Human beings need more than symptom relief—we need belonging, purpose, and community. Without them, the psyche fragments.
Respectful identificationIdentification is a psychological process where individuals adopt the characteristics, values, or be… of those in need. In collective settings—schools, universities, workplaces—we must be willing to notice, flag, and compassionately engage those who are struggling before crisis erupts. This isn’t about stigma or punishment; it’s about extending care when warning signs appear.
Depolarizing our media environment. We must become aware of how traditional and social media fuel outrage, mistrust, and extremism. Encouraging balanced reporting, reducing algorithmic amplification of division, and creating healthier online norms are essential if we want to restore psychological stability.
Awareness of technology’s impact. Smartphones, constant notifications, and device-driven living fracture attention, increase anxiety, and erode presence. We need a cultural awakening about how technology shapes identity, relationships, and mental health—and the courage to set healthier boundaries with our devices.
A cultural shift. From denying pain to making room for it—from acting it out to working it through.
The Reckoning
The psyche always seeks expression. If we refuse to acknowledge our wounds, they will make themselves known in increasingly destructive ways.
Today, in both Utah and Colorado, we saw eruptions of that reality.
As a father of three young kids, I can’t help but worry about where this world is headed if we don’t get a grip on this. If we can’t slow down, reflect, and start having an honest national conversation about our collective mental health, then these ruptures will only keep multiplying.
Part of that responsibility means noticing when someone is struggling—whether in a classroom, workplace, or community—and reaching out with compassion before pain hardens into violence.
The question is no longer whether America is in a mental health crisis—we are. The question is whether we will finally listen to what our symptoms are trying to tell us: that this is not just a crisis of mental health, but of meaning, purpose, connectedness—and our willingness to see and respond to one another’s suffering before it’s too late.
