What Is the Unconscious

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The cultural unconscious are collective concerns reflecting unprocessed material in a group's psyche.

The cultural unconscious can activate a cultural complex and “take over” a group.

When a complex activates, reflection is compromised, nuance flattens, and it can feel threatening.

Recently, many patients have expressed that things feel heavy and bleak now in the world. There seems to be “something in the air.” What they’re speaking to is a general cultural angst whereby people feel grim about a lot of things—the economy, racism, sexual violence, politics, the environment, and more. This cultural angst is the felt mood or experience of our times. While not everyone feels somber, my patients are naming something real.

The American Psychological Association’s 2026 Stress in America report found that 74 percent of adults identified the future of the nation as a significant source of stress. The shared sense of unease, dread, or anxiety about the direction of our society has numerous sources that may be understood as a crisis of trust.

Societal advancements like artificial intelligence (AI) and social media fuel excitement, coupled with skepticism or disdain because it’s no longer entirely clear what’s real or true. These same advancements are liberating in their efficiency, yet they push us to simplify through reaction buttons and character limits. Nuance flattens, reflection and discernment can be compromised, and there may be no time or space for complexity. That becomes the background layer of our cultural experience, forming what we call “the cultural unconscious.”

What Is the Cultural Unconscious?

You have likely heard about the personal unconscious—an individual’s memories, experiences, and perceptions that are forgotten, repressed, dissociated, or never fully registered but still leave an imprint. Perhaps you’ve heard of the collective unconscious, a shared psychological inheritance. It’s a reservoir of collective patterns, instincts,........

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