View source for Building collective welfare

When we think about how to look after our welfare under oppression, the present-day notion of “self-care” seems to be ill-suited to safeguarding mental and physical health. On this page, we look at two concepts that could help with individual and collective coping.

=== Liberation psychology ===
Liberation psychology (Sloan, 2002) seeks to understand individuals in their sociopolitical, historical and cultural context, to uncover ideological influences on the understanding of human behaviour and to de-pathologise human reaction to oppression, all in the name of a moral responsibiity for social justice. One of its practices emphasises the use of music as a medium for healing and community building. Other practices, aligned with ethnopsychology, encourage political activism as a form of healing and self-care.

However, there still may be merit in preserving and expanding what therapy and counseling have to offer in terms of psycho-social support, in particular with respect to secondary symptoms (addiction, family problems etc.) that may arise from actos of political oppression.

The use of the arts more generally has a long tradition in resisting oppression and providing avenues for community and self-care. Some examples are the [https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Tapestries_of_Hope_Threads_of_Love/qlfJEelV0AgC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=arpilleras+chile+movement&pg=PR9&printsec=frontcover Arpillera movement] in Chile under Pinochet, the [[wikipedia:Nueva_canción|Nueva Cancion]] movement (Victor Jara, Mercedes Sosa) in Latin America, a number of theatre projects in Eastern Europe during State Socialism (e.g. independent theatre groups such as [https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karls_Enkel Karl’s Enkel]) or a multitude of singer-songwriters providing social commentary of whom [[wikipedia:Vladimir_Vysotsky|Vladimir Vyssotsky]] was probably the most prominent one. Such art projects provided opportunity for collective witnessing and catharsis. 

The use of humour probably deserves a special mention in this context: In the Soviet Union, the spread of political jokes mocking the system was legendary (Davies, 2007). Jokes provided a momentary sense of shared protest and shared relief without an obligation for further action. They can be seen as an act of self-care. Another form of self-protection was associated with the practice of double-speak, euphemism and [https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=g6qM4fQy7YoC&oi=fnd&pg=PR11&dq=Svetlana+Boym+%E2%80%93+Common+Places:+Mythologies+of+Everyday+Life+in+Russia&ots=1N16IdKjdW&sig=mU-Pf_J5N3Gk-UXAPu-v0MYaNSg#v=onepage&q=Svetlana%20Boym%20%E2%80%93%20Common%20Places%3A%20Mythologies%20of%20Everyday%20Life%20in%20Russia&f=false reading between the lines] as a means of covertly perceiving and conveying a sense of dissent.

=== Stoicism ===
Normally, we tend to pay minimal to no attention to the internal narratives about ourselves and our experiences with the external world. It might keep us afloat when life is at bay. Troubling times, however, can reveal that the mental framework that we have been functioning under for years lacks structural integrity and leaves us feeling disoriented, fragile, lost, and unbalanced when we need support the most. Stoicism can help establish an alternative, more resilient self-narrative that remains reliable and applicable regardless of one’s life circumstances. 

==== Stoicism as a new self-narrative.   ====
Suppose one is asked to reflect on their personality, past experiences, and future perspectives. As a response, they will inevitably create a coherent narrative consistent with their internalized perceptions of themselves and the external world. McAdams (2011) calls this phenomenon “narrative identity”, which refers to individuals’ tendencies to create meaningful stories about self, others, and life events, based on their values, goals, judgments, and motives (p. 99). Incidentally, the narrative does not seem to be permanent and can be molded throughout life. Further evidence of the flexible self comes from research on personality maturation that tends to be associated with changes in certain traits throughout the lifespan (Bleidorn, 2015). Thus, Stoicism principles incorporated in a “narrative identity” could potentially substitute harmful behaviors (e.g., compulsive news checking) and fruitless goals (e.g., “I have to be constantly informed about latest political developments, so I can react quick if needed”) with more beneficial ones (e.g., “It is important to stay informed in uncertain times, however, I also accept that external things are mostly out of my control. With this in mind, I will try to avoid unnecessary emotional investments while reading about political updates. I will also restrict my time allocated to this activity. With deliberate practice, this new stoic identity script has the potential to modify one’s internal goals, which in turn could alter one’s goal-directed behaviors.

==== Stoic tools ====
Although established as early as 300 BCE by Zeno of Citium in Athens, Stoicism was later heavily popularized in Rome by Seneca and Epictetus (Durand et al., 2023). However, perhaps the most notable Stoic was Marcus Aurelius, a Roman emperor and the author of the book called “Meditations.” Although most ideas described in “Meditations” belonged to Epictetus, a former slave (Crook, 2025), Marcus was not a stranger to misfortunes himself. During his reign, he endured multiple wars, rebellions, plague, and the death of his children (Kamtekar & Rachana, 2025). Despite those challenges, Marcus Aurelius' character remained unbroken until his last days. Thanks to a thorough overview of historical materials dedicated to Stoicism, including “Meditations” performed by Robertson (2019), one can elicit a range of mental tools used by Marcus Aurelius and other Stoics in both peaceful and trying times. 

# ''Taking responsibility for one's mind''. While external factors (e.g., political climate, prosperity, health) are beyond our control, our internal life (e.g., thoughts, beliefs, judgments, attitudes) is within our power to change (Dopierała, 2022). Fully comprehending this idea means accepting responsibility for one’s own mental states and, as a result, taking the first step to building a mental framework, the integrity of which does not rely on external circumstances. 
# ''Metacognitive Awareness''. It refers to the idea of perceiving one’s thoughts and emotional events as an observer who is conscious of the temporary nature of those mental occurrences, avoids identification with them, and accepts their potential fallibility in accurately reflecting reality (Pascoe, 2021). In other words, it is crucial to start noticing thoughts and their content, as too often we fail to do that.  Afterwards, as opposed to unconsciously “living” them and through them, one can decide not to act upon those mental events and simply observe them. When we deliberately cease to think about something (e.g., during a boring Zoom call or a lengthy commute), we enter the realm of the brain’s default network, where self-generated thoughts emerge spontaneously (Andrews-Hanna, 2014). Importantly, they also dissipate quickly if we, of course, refrain from contributing to them by dwelling on them and “thinking the thoughts”, which sometimes, again, can happen without us noticing. Due to their involuntary and fleeting nature, we should not identify with them or treat every single such occurrence as an accurate representation of reality. 
# ''Cognitive distancing''. By assuming a role of an observer of our thoughts rather than an immediate actor upon them, as well as realizing the discrepancy between the actual reality and our biased (by our beliefs and value judgments) inferences about it, we can potentially gain a new perspective through the lenses of cognitive distancing (Robertson, 2019). Important to note that Stoics did not expect to gain complete resilience to any emotion. On the contrary, they accepted the initial emotional reaction to challenging events as natural and inevitable. That what happens after matters most, as it is in our control to continue perpetuating the emotion or disengage from this urge. Understanding that immediate emotional reactivity to a trigger event, which tends to produce behavioral consequences, is heavily prejudiced by preexisting mood (Becerra & Campitelli, 2013), can help extend the gap between stimulus and response, gain cognitive distancing, and reclaim control over one’s mental state.    
# ''Objective facts do not demand subjective opinions.'' Stoics do not reject the existence of evil events guided by vice, nor do they condemn us for an immediate negative emotional response to those events (Robertson, 2019). What they caution against is conscious regeneration and perpetuation of this response (that is, where metacognitive awareness about one’s mental processes is essential). Saying “Alzheimer’s and cancer research got defunded” in comparison to “What an atrocity to defund life-saving research! Who on Earth can be evil enough to do that?” does not diminish the badness of the fact. Rather, it prevents catastrophizing and unnecessary emotional investments. Next time “Everything is going to hell! I feel so miserable and powerless!” emerges in mind, substituting it with “Those are challenging times, which means I have extra work to do (e.g., being kind to my neighbor, having meaningful conversation with my students, continuing my work despite potential grant loss)” is just a reasonable thing to do. And as the former thought keeps reoccurring with annoying persistence, the latter one should be effortfully summoned to replace it with the even more stubborn perseverance. 

=== References ===
Sloan, T. (2002). Psicologia de la liberacion: Ignacio Martín-Baró. Interamerican Journal of Psychology, 36, 353-357.

Davies, C. (2007). Humour and Protest: Jokes under Communism. RSH 52, pp. 291–305 <nowiki>https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020859007003252</nowiki>

Durand, Marion, Simon Shogry, and Dirk Baltzly, "Stoicism", ''The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' (Spring 2023 Edition), Edward N. Zalta & Uri Nodelman (eds.), URL = <<nowiki>https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2023/entries/stoicism/</nowiki>>.

Kamtekar, Rachana, "Marcus Aurelius", ''The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' (Summer 2025 Edition), Edward N. Zalta & Uri Nodelman (eds.), forthcoming URL = <<nowiki>https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2025/entries/marcus-aurelius/</nowiki>>.

Crook, J.A. (2025, June 9). ''Marcus Aurelius''. ''Encyclopedia Britannica''. <nowiki>https://www.britannica.com/biography/Marcus-Aurelius-Roman-emperor</nowiki>

McAdams, D.P. (2011). Narrative Identity. In: Schwartz, S., Luyckx, K., Vignoles, V. (eds) Handbook of Identity Theory and Research. Springer, New York, NY. <nowiki>https://doi-org.proxy.tamuc.edu/10.1007/978-1-4419-7988-9_5</nowiki>

Robertson, D. (2019). ''How to think like a Roman emperor: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius'' (1st ed.). New York: St. Martin’s Press.

Bleidorn, W. (2015). What accounts for personality maturation in early adulthood? ''Current Directions in Psychological Science'', ''24''(3), 245–252. <nowiki>https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721414568662</nowiki>

Pascoe, M. C., Manincor, M. D., Tseberjaa, J., Hallgrene, M., Baldwin, P. A., & Parkera, A. G. (2021). Psychobiological mechanisms underlying the mood bene ts of meditation: A Narrative review. ''Comprehensive Psychoneuroendocrinology'', ''6'', 100037. <nowiki>https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpnec.2021.100037</nowiki>

Andrews-Hanna, J. R., Smallwood, J., & Spreng, R. N. (2014). The default network and self-generated thought: component processes, dynamic control, and clinical relevance. ''Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences'', ''1316''(1), 29–52. <nowiki>https://doi.org/10.1111/nyas.12360</nowiki>

Dopierała, R. (2022). Popular stoicism in the face of social uncertainty. ''Qualitative Sociology Review'', ''18''(4), 154–170. <nowiki>https://doi.org/10.18778/1733-8077.18.4.08</nowiki>

Becerra, R., & Campitelli, G. (2013). Emotional Reactivity: Critical analysis and proposal of a new scale. ''International Journal of Applied Psychology'', ''3''(6), 161–168. <nowiki>https://doi.org/10.5923/j.ijap.20130306.03</nowiki>