Trisha Deb
Mass media has always been the hand that nurtures, shapes and molds an audience's thoughts, beliefs and actions. It is the sole perpetrator in the spread of powerful or moving content in the form of news, entertainment, or general information. Interestingly, this specific aspect of the media has been extensively linked to Vicarious or Secondary Trauma. Vicarious Trauma can be defined as “natural pervasive change resulting from the repeated exposure to experiences and feelings of a traumatic event experienced by another person”. This can distort the victim's experience of reality by affecting their schema, memory, beliefs, needs and perception (Lisa McCann & Pearlman, 1990). While it is common for professionals such as clinical psychologists, psychiatrists or therapists who work with trauma victims to experience this, it has been found that any form of eyewitness media can result in Secondary or Vicarious Trauma. This article therefore explores the question, Can the politics of media play a role in ‘spreading trauma’?
A survey investigating the adverse effect of traumatic eyewitness media on personal or professional lives was administered to a total of 209 participants consisting of journalists or humanitarian workers. It was found that 40% of the respondents experienced high or very high adverse impairment in their daily life functioning after viewing eyewitness media (Dubberley et al., 2021). They also reported experiencing symptoms that replicate those of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), as described in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-5 (DSM-V). These include stress, depression, flashings of disturbing thoughts, nightmares and even nausea (Adams & Riggs, 2008). They also reported feeling isolated and unable to cope with these drastic alterations.
Even though literature on Vicarious Trauma has existed for over 25 years, it has been becoming alarmingly common given the context of the times. For example, with respect to the origin of the Coronavirus in 2020 in China, the media was the sole information provider during times of social isolation. However, the accusatory stance reflected against China by some media organizations as well as the large scale documentation of deaths led to panic and anxiety across the country. A study exploring the relation between media exposure and anxiety, mediated by media vicarious traumatization effect was conducted on a sample of 1118 Chinese citizens. The results depicted that media vicarious traumatization was a strong mediator with commercial and overseas media exposure having full mediated effects on anxiety whereas social and official media exposure had indirect ones (Liu & Liu, 2020). This therefore depicts that not only are individuals who work in trauma-related fields susceptible to Vicarious Trauma, but anyone viewing such content in the world could experience it.
It is evident that the Media plays a role in creating Vicarious Trauma, however, what underlying mechanism of the media is responsible for the increasing prevalence of this phenomenon? The media gives people a sense of interconnectedness and belonging which in turn has created feelings of attachment and very emotionally-invested audiences (Sullender, 2009). This media-orchestrated construction of a global community has increased our emotional attachment to places, and people we have never seen or met respectively. This digital accessibility is what makes it easier to feel a deeper sense of fear or grief when a tragic event transpires. This also makes it easier to empathize and internalize the trauma that we see on the screen.
However, is it humanly possible to constantly experience such high emotional states? While one form of Vicarious Trauma manifests itself in the form of PTSD, another contrasting form of it is Compassion Fatigue. As we scroll through social media or flip back and forth between televised news channels, we are bombarded with graphic, traumatic images and feel a surge of empathy towards the victims. However, this constant need to feel compassionate and empathetic every hour of every day can result in ‘emotional burnout, feeling physically drained or exhausted and in indifference’ (Kinnick et al., 1996). This is known as Compassion Fatigue. A study investigating the relation between compassion fatigue and media coverage about social problems was conducted on 316 participants in the US. The results depicted two types of effects of media coverage with respect to compassion fatigue. With 35% of the respondents experiencing physical symptoms of Vicarious Trauma as discussed above and more than half (51%) of the participants described a desensitization and emotional withdrawal from social issues. They used words that are characteristic of a ‘lack of compassion’ such as “helpless, numb, saturated” towards issues they once took interest in but now felt were covered extensively by the media (Kinnick et al., 1996).
This detachment however is not only experienced with respect to the issues represented in the media but also towards their personal relationships in real life. While the media creates a sense of interconnectedness, in reality, when one is viewing such traumatic content, they are doing so in isolation. Therefore, even if individuals are experiencing some of the symptoms of vicarious trauma, they are unable to identify or cope with them. While it is easy and common to adopt maladaptive coping strategies such as avoidance, disengagement or denial in such cases, it is essential to increase resilience through “emotional social support, seeking information about the stressor or making plans for its resolution” (Dubberley et al., 2021).
In conclusion, exposure to the media has a substantial part in creating vicarious trauma amongst its audiences. Therefore, we, as today’s generation, must learn to identify and cope with this in healthy ways. The implications of strategies the media uses to gain the audience's attention and generate change may be detrimental for the future. All the aforementioned evidence suggests that the once effective media strategy of depicting emotion-evoking stimuli in order for viewers to feel moved to take action for or against the issue being covered is backfiring. It is instead creating a generation of individuals who are either being plagued with vicarious psychological trauma or becoming hollow, desensitized robots just by viewing the world through the lens of mass media.
References
Adams, S. A., & Riggs, S. A. (2008). An exploratory study of vicarious trauma among therapist trainees. Training and Education in Professional Psychology, 2(1), 26–34. https://doi.org/10.1037/1931-3918.2.1.26
Dubberley, S., Griffin, E., & Bal, H. M. (2021, March 5). Making secondary trauma a primary issue: A study of eyewitness media and Vicarious Trauma on the Digital Frontline. First Draft. Retrieved March 5, 2022, from https://firstdraftnews.org/articles/making-secondary-trauma-primary-issue-study-eyewitness-media-vicarious-trauma-digital-frontline/
Kinnick, K. N., Krugman, D. M., & Cameron, G. T. (1996). Compassion Fatigue: Communication and burnout toward Social Problems. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 73(3), 687–707. https://doi.org/10.1177/107769909607300314
Lisa McCann, I., & Pearlman, L. A. (1990). Vicarious traumatization: A framework for understanding the psychological effects of working with victims. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 3(1), 131–149. https://doi.org/10.1002/jts.2490030110
Liu, C., & Liu, Y. (2020). Media exposure and anxiety during COVID-19: The mediation effect of media vicarious traumatization. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(13), 4720. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17134720
Sullender, R. S. (2009). Vicarious grieving and the media. Pastoral Psychology, 59(2), 191–200. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11089-009-0227-5
Vicarious trauma. Contemporary Psychotherapy. (2021, March 30). Retrieved March 6, 2022, from https://www.contemporarypsychotherapy.org/volume-13-issue-1/vicarious-trauma/
Comments
Post a Comment