Take our Resilience Test

Find a therapist near me

Bystanders who are witnesses to mass shootings through the media can experience declines in mental health.

When we are bystanders to mass tragedy, we need a community to heal.

Small strategies like maintaining a routine and doing something to help can improve resilience.

The experience of social efficacy comes later in the healing process, as we seek to make our community safe.

Canada’s worst school shooting happened on February 12 in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, a small western community of 2,000. Eight are dead. A community is in mourning. A nation paused to remember those killed, as a few days later, leaders of the five major political parties in Canada all came together to offer their collective support to the community. They, like the entire population of Tumbler Ridge, and many others across Canada, were bystanders to a senseless act of violence.

While there are plenty of studies of how bystanders respond when they see violence (and how their actions can prevent violence), there is little research on the impact of living in proximity to (or watching online) a mass casualty event like a school shooting. One notable exception is a new study led by Aparna Soni at........

© Psychology Today