Psychological Effects of Recent Violent Events

May 19, 2022

Social media and news coverage of shootings, bombings, and other events has been graphic and intense. In general, experiencing violence can result in serious psychological distress, including depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). While people may not develop a psychological disorder after hearing first-hand accounts or viewing graphic, real-time images of these events, people do experience strong emotions, such as fear, sadness, grief, and anger.

The more similar one is to the person or people experiencing an event, the more likely it is that the person indirectly-involved will develop a strong reaction. When crimes are reported in news coverage or shared through the immediacy of social media, many groups of people see someone with whom they identify experiencing a violent act. The more a person is reminded of years of discrimination, bias, or prejudice, the more likely it is that there will be significant stress or distress. “That could be me” turns into “That is me!”

Studying the indirect effects of violence, in general, is a relatively new endeavor. Even fewer studies focus on the unique effects of racially-motivated violence or hate crimes on psychological distress. Monnica Williams, PhD, a clinical psychologist and the director of the Center for Mental Health Disparities at the University of Connecticut, described race-based stress reactions in an interview with the New York Times in June 2015. She stated that race-based stress is, “a natural byproduct of the types of experiences that minorities have to deal with on a regular basis.” She went on to describe the prevailing symptoms that may be experienced as “depression, intrusion (the inability to get the thoughts about what happened out of one’s mind), vigilance (an inability to sleep out of fear of danger), anger, loss of appetite, apathy, avoidance symptoms, and emotional numbing.” These symptoms are quite similar to symptoms of PTSD. Even if the reported violence has never been directly-experienced, a person may have heard stories about or know people within their families or communities who have. Dr. Williams refers to this as “cultural knowledge” and notes that it primes people from minority groups to experience a unique kind of reaction and possible, secondary PTSD.

It is much more common, however, for people to have feelings of sadness, worry, fear, or anger in the aftermath of violence, be it racially motivated or otherwise. These normal reactions and feelings are to be expected, and they are not a sign of some sort of pathology or mental illness. Dealing with the emotional toll of seeing and hearing information about race-based violence or hate crimes can be overwhelming and exhausting. It is important to be aware of varied coping skills and avenues for support in order to prevent normal stress reactions from becoming potential psychological disorders.