(LifeSiteNews) — I had the pleasure of speaking with Dr. Stephen Sammut, professor of psychology at Franciscan University of Steubenville, about the mass formation psychosis of the COVID pandemic on today’s episode of The John-Henry Westen Show.
Dr. Sammut explained that “mass formation psychosis,” a term that has gained considerable traction over the past couple months, refers to a kind of “hypnosis” in which a significant percentage of society “starts following a particular narrative without any reasoning behind it.”
Although it’s not a new term, “mass formation psychosis” has emerged as a perfect encapsulation of the hysterical attitudes and responses to COVID, especially since the latest variant poses virtually zero threat to the overwhelming majority of people.
Dr. Sammut argued that mass formation psychosis is not just one concept. For a society to become afflicted with it, several psychological and sociological concepts must coalesce in a given time and place, such as a lack of social connectedness and meaning, the creation of a false community along ideological lines, and “free-floating” anxiety and frustration.
“I think you could probably recognize … that these are all aspects that we have been observing with regards to what is being called the COVID pandemic,” he said.
The Steubenville professor also made the fascinating point that contemporary society has primed us for an irrational response to COVID. He believes the upper and lower brain are imbalanced due to a proliferation of pornography, the destruction of the nuclear family, and the deepening chasms in our political life. These developments, he said, have only fostered the greater use of our lower brain — that is, the impulsive, irrational part.
This is an intriguing episode you won’t want to miss!
The John-Henry Westen Show is available by video on the show’s YouTube channel and right here on my LifeSite blog.
It is also available in audio format on platforms such as Spotify, Soundcloud, and Acast. We are awaiting approval for iTunes and Google Play as well. To subscribe to the audio version on various channels, visit the Acast webpage here.
We’ve created a special email list for the show so that we can notify you every week when we post a new episode. Please sign up now by clicking here. You can also subscribe to the YouTube channel, and you’ll be notified by YouTube when there is new content.
You can send me feedback, or ideas for show topics by emailing [email protected].