Social Media PTSD?!? Experts Think It Happens
posted by Ja'Shawn Steward-Johnson | January 19, 2017 | In News, OpinionCellphone videos and recordings have added a new dimension to the issue of police brutality. Now people across the United States and across the globe are able to watch video of others’ last moments be taken away.
We saw Walter Scott in South Carolina run away from Officer Michael Slager before getting gunned down. We saw Eric Garner in New York get choked to death over selling loose cigarettes. Tamir Rice in Cleveland, Terence Crutcher in Oklahoma, Samuel DuBose in Cincinnati, Laquan McDonald in Chicago. There was also the damning video of Charles Kinsey, a behavioral therapist who was shot (he survived with minor injuries) by North Miami police while laying down with his hands up in the air as he was trying to help an autistic patient. The names go on and on. Most recently, we saw the last moments of Alton Sterling and Philando Castille, as well as, in Charlotte, Keith Lamont Scott’s last moment get turned into fifteen-second news clips and reposted repeatedly for everyone’s consumption.
In this age of social media, when a new video of police brutality sprouts, the name and hashtag that accompanies it is likely to be trending and seen everywhere. However, according to Monnica Williams, clinical psychologist and director of the Center for Mental Health Disparities at the University of Louisville, graphic videos combined with lived experiences of racism, can create severe psychological problems similar to symptoms of post-traumatic stress syndrome, as reported by PBS Newshour. Research has shown that for people of color, frequent exposure to those graphic videos can have long-term mental effects.
“There’s a heightened sense of fear and anxiety when you feel like you can’t trust the people who’ve been put in charge to keep you safe. Instead, you see them killing people who look like you,” she said. “Combined with the everyday instances of racism, like microaggressions and discrimination, that contributes to a sense of alienation and isolation. It’s race-based trauma.”
“It’s upsetting and stressful for people of color to see these events unfolding,” she said. “It can lead to depression, substance abuse and, in some cases, psychosis. Very often, it can contribute to health problems that are already common among African-Americans such as high blood pressure.”
The research of the psychological impact of racism is still relatively new, but Williams said it’s “now starting to get the attention that it deserves,” and experts are now “seeing very strong, robust and repeated negative impacts of discrimination.”
These cellphone videos and recordings have done a lot of good, of course. It has brought attention to cases that may have otherwise gone overlooked. These videos galvanize local communities and the entire Black Lives Matter movement, itself. However, it is fair to wonder if it is necessary that those videos be repeatedly shown, retweeting, and reposting, sometimes with not even a censor.
These videos serve important reminders that the issue of police brutality and racial bias still needs to be fixed. A reminder that is also just as important is repeated viewing of police brutality videos can cause mental and psychological anguish and stress. Please take caution when viewing such videos. At this point, you don’t need to view the next video of the next hashtag to know that there is an issue with policing. A social media hiatus or straying away from reposting such videos may be what is necessary to stay healthy.
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