FiveThirtyEight
June 9, 2022
Mass shootings can traumatize people who weren't even there
There is precious little known about how the impacts of school shootings ripple out to children in the rest of the community, state and nation. But there is plenty of research that suggests the trauma of violence in general probably doesn't stop at the specific location where it happened. Evidence suggests there are multiple kinds of indirect trauma, said Jennifer Carlson, a professor of sociology, government and public policy at the University of Arizona. Vicarious trauma, she said, is what happens when people like social workers are deeply exposed to the trauma of their clients and feel helpless to prevent those people from experiencing traumatic events. Community trauma, meanwhile, happens when whole populations are collectively traumatized by something that affects everyone on a cultural level, even if some individuals don't experience it personally.