Chris Taylor. The court currently has a 4 to 3
Liberal majority. The world is an increasingly scary
place. Political assassinations, mass
shootings at schools, churches and on the street.
Even though some of the violence is close to home,
the sense is it won't happen to me. But that's
what survivors often say. And how are people to make
their way in the face of it? We ask Sidney
Timmer-Murillo, assistant professor at the Medical
College of Wisconsin and psychologist treating
trauma and traumatic injury. And thanks for being here.
>> Thank you. >> So is there such a thing
as collective trauma, where people generally feel a
sense of foreboding in the current climate?
>> Yeah, absolutely. I think especially with the
frequency that we're seeing violence and such highly
broadcasted events of violence, we can absolutely,
as humans feel the weight of so much profound trauma.
>> So watching the the deadly mayhem of the fire
and church shooting in Michigan was so much. And
then it's on endless loop in social media. How much
does that endless loop wear on people?
>> Yeah, we know that the frequency of how much you
see trauma or experience trauma, so that repetition
of violence really can impact somebody quite
significantly. And it's normal for them to then
start to experience anxiety or fear or really a threat
to their sense of safety. Even if it wasn't you who
experienced the violence per se.
>> How injurious is this exposure in people's day to
day lives, perhaps especially children and
young adults, things they >> Yeah.
>> So, you know, everybody is different. We can see a
range of different reactions from an
understandable spike in your emotion when you first
see that violent event, but it can grow and really
build a cascade into mental health concerns or mental
health diagnoses. And so an individual, you know,
especially kids and children and adults, when
they're trying to make sense of it, it can really
start to shape your worldview. And whether or
not you feel safe operating in the world. So maybe you
start to avoid certain things that used to be
normal for you. It might be difficult for you to go to
work or go to school. >> And so the shock of
assassinations and school shootings is is obviously
so deeply disturbing. Should people not directly
involved sit with that or move along?
>> Yeah, we would encourage that. You know, you can't
necessarily always escape the bad things happening in
life or, or media and you want to be informed, but
it's definitely important to take breaks. I would
argue that, you know, taking those social media
breaks and really making sure you're engaged with
your day to day life, your loved ones and family can
really keep you grounded when navigating so much
tension in this world. >> How does trauma affect
people who have experienced it?
>> What we know from the research is that if you
have a history of trauma that puts you at greater
risk of developing psychopathology after any
subsequent types of trauma. And so if you, let's say,
even we're in like a motor vehicle collision, and then
now you're dealing with new exposures to violence, it
does tend to put you at a greater risk. Or it's
something that I would be looking out for when I'm
trying to help treat somebody for, let's say,
post-traumatic stress disorder or depression.
>> So it really. >> In what feels like a
violent world and is is the practice of trauma
treatment a growing field? >> Absolutely. Yeah. I
think, you know, a majority of people will experience
at least one trauma in their lifetime. But we know
that a lot of people can are at risk for more than
just one traumatic experience, or they live in
communities with high rates of violence. And so because
of that, you know, I think mental health providers
really do need to be prepared for addressing
trauma in whatever they're doing with their patients.
But we are definitely growing in terms of
specializations as well, that we need these
providers to really be able to hone in on the root of
somebody's trauma reactions, and that tends to need some
pretty specialized treatment to to be able to
do that effectively. >> What makes someone
resilient to trauma? >> Yeah.
You know, I think it is important to remember that
there is resilience in the face of trauma. And there
are so many things that can contribute to that. There
can be individual factors. So how you regulate your
emotions in the face of fear and threat to your
safety. But I also think social support is such a
profoundly important resilience factor, really
connecting to your loved ones. When you have been
exposed to violence, it's so critical for trying to
move forward and cope with move forward and cope with