Introduction to Collective Grief and Collective Fatigue

Welcome to introduction to collective grief and collective fatigue!

A few years ago, I was listening to a talk about grief. My attention was drawn once she began discussing collective grief and collective fatigue. She then went on to describe collective grief as a shared grief that happens on a large scale (such as the lock downs) which can result in collective fatigue. This was described as a shared group experience that leads to exhaustion from prolonged stressors. This was the first time I had heard of it. Like others, I have noticed that many individuals are experiencing fatigue, exhaustion, burn out and having brain fog. So her explanation fit with what I was seeing around me and I felt as though I was finally beginning to understand it.

Grief can come in various forms. In my opinion, it can be categorized as individual grief, disenfranchised grief and collective grief. Given the impact that collective grief has on our society, I believe that this topic deserves more attention. Which is why I gave it a separate category on my blog.

When trying to find a definition for collective grief and collective fatigue, I was shocked to find that neither one had a definition. I searched in my old textbooks, my psych dictionary, various online dictionaries and found nothing. I even tried to find the history behind the terms and still nothing. I thought that perhaps I misunderstood the lecture, so I listened to it again. Yup, there it was, just as I remembered. Then I tried to look up articles that I previously read about this topic but again there was no formal definition. I then began to realize that what I was listening/reading to was opinions on the topic and not a formal explanation. Which leads me to believe that these are new terms that came out of the recent world event. However, I kept reading the opposite, that they are not new and have been used for past events. I found this to be a particular odd thing to state, since I couldn’t find them anywhere and I don’t remember them being used. Again, perhaps I remembered wrong so I went digging for past articles and found that other terms were used such as collective trauma. Another thing that I found interesting is that the use of collective grief and fatigue has extended to other situation, such as workplace dynamics and technology overload.

So then what is the definition of collective grief and fatigue. From what I read it is essentially described as the same as grief and fatigue just on a bigger scale involving more people experiencing the same event. As for symptoms they include irritability, social withdrawal, insomnia, difficulty focusing, becoming easily overwhelmed, chronic headaches and muscles pain. I look forward to exploring all of it.

Also during my search I did find similar terms such as collective trauma and shared mourning. These terms are more commonly used for group scaled events that have a shared emotional response to death such as earthquakes, wars and so on. Where I feel that these differ from collective grief is that the lockdowns were on a global scale and took place over an extended period of time, with continuous loss occurring. With these other shared experiences there also tends to be shared grieving and support. In my opinion, we are not seeing much of that anymore in our society.

In the aftermath of the world event, many of us were left feeling shattered and shaken. Despite our nation already feeling burnt out, fatigued and detached from each other, I do believe this was the tipping point. However, some positive aspects came out of it. During this time it gave people a pause on our busy lives. It was a chance to reassess our lives and even the relationships around us. People were able to make positive changes that they couldn’t do before and got to see other’s for who they truly were. Unfortunately, at the same time there was an increase in people caring less, less connected, busier then ever etc. I really do believe that we need to work together, support each other, help each other in order to over come this hurdle. My intent is to share my experiences and resources that I have come across over the years. As well as any new information that I find and stories that I found helpful from others.