Psychological Insights on Collective Trauma
We have talked before about trauma.
But have you heard of Collective Trauma?
Collective trauma is different than personal traumas, as it impacts a large group of people across generations.
Examples include wars, natural disasters, and pandemics.
How is that different than individual trauma?
Besides the emotional and psychological impact of such events on individuals, collective traumas often fundamentally alter the way that people relate to one another.
Communities may have to adapt to a new way of life and, at times, establish a new social identity.
Just as trauma at the individual level shatters assumptive worldviews about oneself and one’s position in the world, collective trauma can disrupt people’s global sense of meaning by exposing them to the darker sides of human nature.
Thus, violence and suffering may become deeply embedded in communities.
The tragedy represented in the collective memory of the group, like all forms of memory, comprises a reproduction of the events, and an ongoing reconstruction of the trauma in an attempt to find meaning in it.
Yet, collective memories are different.
This type of memory of trauma persists beyond the lives of the direct survivors of the events.
Therefore, the following generations of trauma survivors, who never witnessed the actual events, may still remember the events differently than the direct survivors.
The collective memory of traumatized groups lead to to narratives that promote enduring hardships as a path toward achieving freedom, independence, and group security.
Since finding meaning plays a crucial role in the context of collective trauma, survivors seek to establish meaning by:
- Passing on their teachings and traditions related to threats that emphasize the preservation of the group.
- Increasing the motivation to incorporate the trauma into a symbolic system of meaning.
- Cultivating a sense of a collective self that spans generations, which promotes a sense of meaning and helps alleviate existential threats.
One would ask though, why do these people and many others cling to their traumatic memory as a cherished possession?
This can be due to two reasons:
- The painful memory of trauma fosters vigilance, thereby enhancing the survival of the group.
- Within the process of creating meaning of the collective trauma, a transgenerational collective identity is formed—an identity that transcends the self and history, offering a sense of continuity of the group across time.
Now that we know about collective trauma, what do you think individuals could do to decrease its negative influence or effects on societies?
Take home message:
Yours truly,
Dana
Kindness is not just a virtue, it's a way of life.
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