Media Matters: Trauma at our Fingertips: Understanding the Psychological Impact of Graphic Media Coverage
StressPoints
It has never been easier to record—or even live stream—graphic events up close and share them with the world. While the existence of both smartphones and the internet has allowed the world to be more connected than ever before, we may also be at risk for greater exposure to disturbing images and videos (Holman et al., 2020). One may thus begin to wonder how frequent consumption of such graphic images impacts our mental health. Some studies have shown, perhaps unsurprisingly, positive associations between the amount of exposure to media coverage of violence and subsequent psychological distress (e.g., posttraumatic stress symptoms; Holman et al., 2020; Silver et al., 2013).
SIG Spotlight: The Traumatic Loss and Grief SIG
StressPoints
Widespread unmet needs arising from deaths due to the opioid, suicide, homicide, AIDS, COVID-19 and other epidemics are being met by an opportunity to make major strides in raising the standard of bereavement care worldwide. For the past three years, Drs. Robert Pynoos and the Traumatic Loss and Grief SIG Co-Chairs, Drs. Christopher Layne and Julie Kaplow, have been working with the American Psychiatric Association (APA) to formulate developmentally informed criteria for a new grief disorder in DSM-5-TR.