Opinion | Hamas-Israel Conflict: Protecting Mental Health and Preventing Vicarious Trauma

As I am writing this piece, I see pictures of mutilated, burnt bodies of children, a bleeding woman being dragged into a vehicle and a man, half-naked, being pulled by an armed man on an English news channel in India. Showing such graphic details has been a norm. Armed men in hiding suddenly shooting occupants of a car, bombed buildings collapsing in seconds with smoke all over and many other gory details are revealed with no hesitation or awareness of vicarious trauma being inflicted on children, those in distress/mentally ill and others.

The worst part is that these details are repeated many times with every channel probably competing with the other. And sometimes the anchors mumble that “they do not want to show graphic details let alone describe them,” but they still manifest and often. I am shocked! Those reporters on the ground, though doing a great job, do not bat an eyelid to display the misery, devastation and annihilation in a high-spirited Hindi movie style to grab eyeballs and eardrums.

A young lady working in a media channel, ironically, has lost her sleep completely since the war. She had recovered completely from depression and her moods were well maintained by medications and counselling but she has relapsed. A five-year-old has nightmares after watching the visuals while having dinner on the lap of his father. Many are slowly trickling to the clinics of psychologists, family physicians, paediatricians and psychiatrists.

“Vicarious traumatisation is the vulnerability of the human brain to be negatively impacted by traumatic events even if they haven’t personally experienced them. This has given us an understanding that witnessing traumatic events or even just having knowledge of the events can have negative consequences on our mental health” (Psychology Today 2020). “No one is immune to the potential of experiencing distress after watching media coverage of trauma, especially if images and videos are involved” (Ramsden 2015).

As a little child, I have watched Ack Ack guns being fired in the air with the flares lighting the sky in Mumbai in the 1971 war between India and Pakistan. We had put black sheets of paper over all the glass panes so that we remained unidentified by the enemy warplanes. There was just radio and newspaper, no television or social media. So we had no vicarious trauma or severe anxiety.

The news media today dishes out war movies day in and day out with so-called experts breathing at each other’s necks. The number of experts multiply with a billion opinions as few facts are interpreted, reinterpreted and misinterpreted with the only aim of making the show interesting, appealing, better and different from others.

Well, the line of demarcation between sensational portrayal and sensitive accurate reporting is very thin in conflict situations today.

Following are a few advisories

• Stay away from news channels that are loud and bombastic and also display a lot of gory pics and videos. Keep children away from such details completely. The developing brain’s growth can be hindered and may affect the future. Adults who would want to know the happenings should watch factual news transacted straight and clear with no gloss and loud animation.

Reading online articles that are fact-checked and penned in a sombre manner, though unattractive, is useful. War movies that have an ‘A’ tag can have sound and light effects but as far as news is concerned, violence needs to be shared sensitively and mindfully with solutions and not focussing on shock value. In a study titled, ‘Media Exposure and the Risk of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Following a Mass Traumatic Event 2021’ after a school shootout in Florida, it was observed that, ’decreasing TV exposure can be associated with a substantial reduction in mental health distress (PTSD: A mental illness that occurs after a disaster) and reducing TV coverage exposure led to up to 90 per cent decrease in the emotional pain in the general population. By contrast, increasing TV exposure was associated with a modest 15 per cent increase in PTSD’. This study was conducted with 1,18,000 participants.

• Those under medication and counselling should avoid watching the news during such times even if they are doing well. Sudden loss of sleep can cause a relapse, causing untold harm to the patients and their families. Televisions in rehab centres, psychiatric wards and places where the psychologically ill are nursed, cared and treated should be adequately supervised.
• Teenagers who feel aligned with either group may feel anxious, angry, and enraged while listening to the stories of the strife. Families, student leaders and political parties need to calm them down and create safe spaces to express and dissipate their anger, sadness or grief.

During the Hindu-Muslim riots following the 1993 disturbances, my friends and I encouraged the angry, scared and sad youth to collect five old newspapers and or one fist full of grains from each household in the community to be distributed to those who could not access food in Mumbai for many days. The discussions would begin with plans of carving out swords from metal for self-protection. Later through guided facilitation, as the feelings were expressed, many scouted in groups to assist local communities. Healthy leaders should keep vested interests away, who may instigate the youth to fulfil their own political gains. Mohalla committees and peace groups should come out in the open.

• As far as children are concerned, it is important to listen to their feelings and thoughts about the situation that they have heard from peers, adults and others. Here also, the consequences of violence borne by the innocent will come up in sharing. Simple minds are the most profound and would evolve creative solutions. Prayers for peace in families will help.

Post-1993 disturbances in India, we had observed small school children echoing the thoughts of their parents expressed at home against either community in schools. It is so important for parents to process their thinking carefully despite their political beliefs so that high-decibel insensitive chatter is avoided.

• Political leaders also have a responsibility. They may have differences but should unequivocally condemn unprovoked violence against unarmed civilians from all sides wherever it happens. We can’t have some condemning violence and others being indifferent to it or even silent. Silence is not diplomacy, but will be viewed as consent to the mayhem. When every leader, influencer or anyone who commands a following gives mixed or confusing signals, it affects the mental health of the people involved.

There will be anxiety, fear, anger and uncertainty. People will lose faith or trust in their leaders’ ability to protect them, causing more distress. It can cause serious divisions among people and sow seeds for discord in the future. A firm resolve by all political parties should be made both in thought and action to keep the country peaceful. This is also a major mental health intervention. Peaceful expressions of views and opinions should be allowed.

• Those who have lost sleep, are very fearful, have intrusive difficult memories, are startled easily, excessively suspicious or display any inappropriate behaviour, need to be seen by a psychologist or a psychiatrist at the earliest. Research also says that those who are still carrying distress from the death of a loved one or due to any other event are more prone to subsequent exposure to vicarious trauma. Time is not always the best healer. Early intervention helps.

At the Institute of Professional Psychology, Karachi, researchers have found in a study titled ‘Indirect Exposure to Violence and Prevalence of Vicarious Trauma in Adolescents’ (2014) that ’54 per cent of adolescents were experiencing moderate symptoms of vicarious trauma. The rate of exposure to traumatic events was high as 42 per cent of adolescents were exposed indirectly to terrorist attacks, target killings, gang wars, and the prevailing situation in the country’.

Our country is a magic pot, doing wonders in many areas. Yet, we are a melting pot too where 1/7 Indians are mentally ill and suicide figures are mounting. Vicarious trauma must be avoided and should not add to the mental health burden.

Teachers, parents, health professionals, and human resource managers, at workplaces can play a vital role along with spiritual leaders and politicians. The Information and Broadcasting Ministry and the National Human Rights Commission can dialogue with the media and evolve guidelines.

In an era of anger, angst and alienation across the globe, let us not allow this war to damage the already struggling psyche of billions of mortals.

Let us pray that this war ends soon.

Dr Harish Shetty is a psychiatrist at Dr L.H. Hiranandani Hospital. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18’s views.