From the most recent edition of Healing Magazine: Part One of “A Conversation with Dr. Steven Marans,” on community response to traumatic events:
“…. It is important to remember that the extent to which one is able to identify with the individuals who are most directly impacted has a huge impact on the extent or degree of our reactions (to traumatic events).
So, if you hear about shootings that happened in an inner city neighborhood in Chicago, if you don’t live in that neighborhood you may be able to turn more of an emotional blind eye to the event, because it’s hard to imagine it happening close to your own doorstep.
However, when a horrific event occurs, and particularly when there are mass casualties, it may more readily tap into the shared fears that we all have as human beings: fears of one’s own death or that of someone we love; damage to our bodies; and loss of control of our impulses, thoughts, and feelings…”
Steven Marans, MSW, Ph.D. is the Harris Professor of Child Psychoanalysis and Professor of Psychiatry at the Yale University School of Medicine. Watch for Part Two of our conversation in the Spring/Summer 2017 edition of Healing Magazine, coming soon. And view all back issues of Healing at healingmagazine.org.
