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(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.

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John-Henry is the co-founder, CEO and editor-in-chief of LifeSiteNews.com. He and his wife Dianne have eight children and they live in the Ottawa Valley in Ontario, Canada.

He has spoken at conferences and retreats, and appeared on radio and television throughout the world. John-Henry founded the Rome Life Forum, an annual strategy meeting for life, faith and family leaders worldwide. He is a board member of the John Paul II Academy for Human Life and the Family. He is a consultant to Canada’s largest pro-life organization Campaign Life Coalition, and serves on the executive of the Ontario branch of the organization. He has run three times for political office in the province of Ontario representing the Family Coalition Party.

John-Henry earned an MA from the University of Toronto in School and Child Clinical Psychology and an Honours BA from York University in Psychology.

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