This Is Your Brain on Violence: How Watching Regular Mass Killings on the News Can Cause Serious Health Impacts

‘After a week in which the public witnessed multiple violent deaths in just a few days—first Alton Sterling and Philando Castile at the hands of police officers, and then five fellow officers in Dallas at the hands of a sniper, not to mention the Bastille Day attacks in Nice—an entire country (and world) is experiencing what psychologists call collective trauma.
While the severity of one’s reaction might depend on how close they are (physically or emotionally) to the situation, no one is immune. According to clinical psychologist Elma Whittaker-Augustine, “Crime and violence also impact us psychologically, whether we are directly exposed, involving self, a family member or friend, or indirectly exposed, via our residence in the community/society or exposure to media coverage.”’
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