In the article, the authors examine the psychological impact on the Israeli public of the kidnapping of 251 civilians during the terrorist attack on October 7, 2023, and propose conceptualizing it as “collective vague loss.” In contrast to a clear and definitive loss, vague loss is characterized by ongoing uncertainty about the fate of loved ones, creating a state of “present-absent,” which makes emotional processing and grieving processes difficult. The article shows that the mass kidnapping goes beyond personal kinship ties, creates a ripple effect, and constitutes a national traumatic experience with widespread implications for the mental health of the entire Israeli public.
Based on a large sample of the general population, it was found that the public experienced high levels of psychological distress, persistent mental preoccupation with the abductees, role confusion, and survivor guilt - even among people who did not personally know the abductee. It also appears that boundary ambiguity and separation distress related to the disappearance are key factors explaining levels of depression, anxiety, and stress after October 7. In contrast, personal resilience factors, such as tolerance for ambiguity and psychological flexibility, were found to have only a limited contribution to coping in a situation of collective trauma, including in the first months after the event. Based on these findings, the article emphasizes that successfully coping with collective ambiguous loss requires shifting the focus from strengthening personal resilience alone to developing community therapeutic responses that view ambiguous loss as a broad social phenomenon.
source
Yehene, E., Ohayon, S., Yahav, A., & Levine, H. (2024). Collective ambiguous loss after mass hostage-taking in war: Exploring public mental health outcomes and resilience. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 15(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/20008066.2024.2434313