Impact of Media Exposure to Violence

Impact of Media Exposure to Violence

When we talk about trauma and the media, there are three trends that emerge:

  • First, the frequency and severity of mass shootings have been increasing.
  • Second, the reporting on these forms of violence has become more widespread and more sensationalized.
  • Third, we are now spending as much as 15.5 hours per day consuming media in some form (Short, 2016).

Now, more than ever, we are surrounded by a frightening array of violent stimuli.

From the smartphone videos that went viral after the Parkland school shooting to the ongoing media images of 911, media portrayals of traumatic events are fast becoming a guaranteed part of any traumatic experience in this country.

Yet as much as we are exposed to the often horrific images, videos, and, in the case of victims, interviews of themselves, do we really know the psychological effect that media exposure has on both the witnesses and victims of such events?

Research has indicated that:

  • Reporting on violence appears to have long-lasting effects on psychological health, including increased risk of PTSD – even as much as seven years later.
  • Exposure to graphic media images spread the impact of collective trauma widely – increasing the risk of both acute and chronic stress, and making traumatic experience live on. Yet, despite the negative consequences, we are often drawn to violent media – in movies and news – as a way to better understand ourselves, and perhaps avenge those who have done harm.
  • While viewing violent media causes changes in our brains and behavior, such as increased risk of aggression and reduced behavioral inhibition, for victims of crime the effects are especially pronounced. These include feelings of violation, loss of control, humiliation and shame.

There are, however, several ways that informed clinicians can not only help victims make sense of what happened to them, but also put the pieces of lives back together in ways that help them find meaning, purpose, and strength through their experiences:

  • Media exposure after mass trauma only leads to less clarity and more confusion about the event. Therefore, one of the best ways clinicians can help victims after a mass trauma is to encourage them to reduce or eliminate exposure to media coverage of the event.
  • Sleep plays an important role in recovering from mass trauma by reducing the intensity and frequency of recurring emotional memories, and should be encouraged by clinicians when working with victims of mass trauma, especially when it becomes public.
  • Having their clients write about their experiences is a powerful tool clinicians can use when working with victims. Research has shown that when victims write about a mass trauma – as opposed to viewing media coverage – especially using introspective and positive emotional words, not just do they feel better, but have better long-term outcomes physically and psychologically.
  • Community engagement after a mass trauma plays a critical role in restoring a sense of connection, support, and aids in the crucial cognitive processing of the event and is something that should be encouraged by clinicians when working with victims of trauma.

Click here to learn more.

Course excerpt from:

Psychological Effects of Media ExposurePsychological Effects of Media Exposure is a 2-hour online continuing education (CE/CEU) course that explores the psychological effects that media exposure has on both the witnesses and victims of traumatic events.

This course will explore why we are so drawn to traumatic events and how media portrayals of these events influence our thoughts, conclusions, and assumptions about them. It will then discuss how the intersection of trauma and media has evolved to provide a place for celebrity-like attention, political agendas, corporate positioning, and even the repackaging, marketing, and selling of grief.

Lastly, the course will look at the interventions and exercises clinicians can use to help their clients understand the effects of trauma becoming public, how to protect themselves, and most importantly, how to recover from traumatic experience – even when it becomes public. Course #21-23 | 2018 | 44 pages | 15 posttest questions

Course Directions

This online course provides instant access to the course materials (PDF download) and CE test. After enrolling, click on My Account and scroll down to My Active Courses. From here you’ll see links to download/print the course materials and take the CE test (you can print the test to mark your answers on it while reading the course document).

CE Information

Professional Development Resources is approved to sponsor continuing education by the American Psychological Association (APA); the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC ACEP #5590); the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB Provider #1046, ACE Program); the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA Provider #3159); the Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR Provider #PR001); the Alabama State Board of Occupational Therapy; the Florida Boards of Social Work, Mental Health Counseling and Marriage and Family Therapy (#BAP346), Psychology & School Psychology (#50-1635), Dietetics & Nutrition (#50-1635), and Occupational Therapy Practice (#34); the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed mental health counselors (#MHC-0135); the Ohio Counselor, Social Worker & MFT Board (#RCST100501); the South Carolina Board of Professional Counselors & MFTs (#193); the Texas Board of Examiners of Marriage & Family Therapists (#114) and State Board of Social Worker Examiners (#5678); and is CE Broker compliant (all courses are reported within a few days of completion).

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Dissociate Identity Disorder Trauma Model

Trauma Model of Dissociate Identity Disorder

Trauma, we know, can do many things. It can interrupt sleep. It can cause us to be hypervigilant. It can disrupt our moods and ability to handle the tasks placed upon us. Yet trauma also places us at risk of something most of us know little about – multiple personality disorder, more recently known as dissociate identity disorder (DID).

Thought to affect approximately one percent of the general population – similar to levels reported for schizophrenia – DID often presents only after having had several earlier misdiagnoses, including schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.

Unlike schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, DID is characterized by the presence of two or more distinct ‘identities’ or ‘personality states’ – each with their own perception of the environment and themselves.

And while some experts argue that DID is linked to trauma, such as chronic emotional neglect and/or emotional, physical, or sexual abuse from early childhood, and others contend that it is related to fantasy proneness, suggestibility, simulation or enactment, a study done by researchers at King’s College in London provides support for the trauma model of DID and challenges the core hypothesis of the fantasy model.

Comparing a sample comprised of a total of 65 women, some with a genuine diagnosis of DID, some female actors who were asked to simulate DID, some with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and some healthy controls, on a variety of questionnaires which measured traumatic experiences, suggestibility, fantasy proneness and malingering of psychiatric symptoms, the researchers found that patients with DID were not more fantasy prone or suggestible and did not generate more false memories compared to patients with PTSD, DID simulating controls (Vissia et al., 2016).

Moreover, the researchers found a continuum of trauma-related symptom severity across the groups, with highest scores in patients with DID, followed by patients with PTSD, and the lowest scores for healthy controls (Vissia et al., 2016).

These results support the theory that there is an association between severity of trauma-related psychopathology and the age at onset, severity and intensity of traumatization.

Dr. Simone Reinders from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King’s College London, explained, “Our findings correspond with research in other areas of psychology and psychiatry, which increasingly implicate trauma with mental health disorders such as psychosis, depression, and now, dissociative identity disorder” (Reinders, 2016).

The hope of Reinders and her team is that insight into the causes and nature of DID will inform, among others, clinicians and forensic experts regarding differences between simulated and genuine DID – which will ultimately lead to faster diagnosis and treatment for patients and greater recognition of DID as a mental health disorder.

Related Online Continuing Education (CE) Course:

A Dissociative Identity Disorder CasebookA Dissociative Identity Disorder Casebook is a 4-hour online continuing education (CE) course that details the diagnosis, treatment, and case management of Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD), more recently known as Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID).

These clients are severely under-diagnosed, misdiagnosed, ignored, and even ridiculed by their own family and many in the mental health profession. Therapists who deal with these clients may be ridiculed and attacked by other mental health professionals and the MPD/DID clients. The prognosis for treatment of MPD/DID is still tragically poor.

This course will include in-depth discussions of the confusion and controversies surrounding this relatively rare disorder, rule-outs and co-morbid conditions to be considered, and the numerous clinical challenges encountered in treating individuals with multiple personalities. All sections are richly illustrated with case examples from the professional and popular literature, as well as the extensive clinical experiences of the author. Course #40-14 | 2018 (updated) | 58 pages | 30 posttest questions

Click here to learn more.

Course Directions

Our online courses provide instant access to the course materials and CE test. Successful completion of the online CE test (80% required to pass, 3 chances to take) and course evaluation are required to earn a certificate of completion. Click here to learn more. Have a question? Contact us. We’re here to help!

Professional Development Resources is a nonprofit educational corporation 501(c)(3) organized in 1992. We are approved to sponsor continuing education by the American Psychological Association (APA); the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC); the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB); the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA); the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA); the Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR); the Alabama State Board of Occupational Therapy; the Florida Boards of Social Work, Mental Health Counseling and Marriage and Family Therapy, Psychology & School Psychology, Dietetics & Nutrition, Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, and Occupational Therapy Practice; the Ohio Counselor, Social Worker & MFT Board and Board of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology; the South Carolina Board of Professional Counselors & MFTs; the Texas Board of Examiners of Marriage & Family Therapists and State Board of Social Worker Examiners; and are CE Broker compliant (all courses are reported within a few days of completion).

Target Audience: PsychologistsCounselorsSocial WorkersMarriage & Family Therapist (MFTs)Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs)Occupational Therapists (OTs)Registered Dietitian Nutritionists (RDNs)School Psychologists, and Teachers

Earn CE Wherever YOU Love to Be!

When Trauma Becomes Public

When Trauma Becomes Public

Of course, we all hope that we will make it through this life unscathed. And yet, a part of us also knows it’s impossible. Perhaps, at least we can hope that when life takes a turn for the worse, it won’t become public news. But what happens when it does?

Pam Ramsden from the University of Bradford explains, “Social media has enabled violent stories and graphic images to be watched by the public in unedited horrific detail. Watching these events and feeling the anguish of those directly experiencing them may impact our daily lives” (Ramsden, 2015).

Recruiting 189 participants (with a mean age of 37) Ramsden had them first complete several inventories: a PTSD clinical assessment, a personality questionnaire, a vicarious trauma assessment, and a questionnaire concerning different violent news events on social media and the internet – including the 9/11 Twin Tower attacks, school shooting and suicide bombings.

While 22 percent of the participants were significantly affected by viewing the events – and scored high on measures of PTSD even though none had previous trauma or were present at the traumatic events – the relationship between viewing violent media images and PTSD was clear: those who reported viewing more violent media images of the events had higher levels of PTSD (Ramsden, 2015).

Ramsden concludes, “It’s quite worrying that nearly a quarter of those who viewed the images scored high on clinical measures of PTSD” (Ramsden, 2015).

The takeaway, as Ramsden notes, is that with increased access to social media, and increased broadcasting of violent events, we need to be aware of the risks of viewing these images – and maybe consider pausing before we read about the next traumatic event.

Related Online Continuing Education (CE) Course:

Psychological Effects of Media ExposurePsychological Effects of Media Exposure is a 2-hour online continuing education (CE/CEU) course that explores the psychological effects that media exposure has on both the witnesses and victims of traumatic events.

This course will explore why we are so drawn to traumatic events and how media portrayals of these events influence our thoughts, conclusions, and assumptions about them. It will then discuss how the intersection of trauma and media has evolved to provide a place for celebrity-like attention, political agendas, corporate positioning, and even the repackaging, marketing, and selling of grief.

Lastly, the course will look at the interventions and exercises clinicians can use to help their clients understand the effects of trauma becoming public, how to protect themselves, and most importantly, how to recover from traumatic experience – even when it becomes public. Course #21-23 | 2018 | 44 pages | 15 posttest questions

Course Directions

Our online courses provide instant access to the course materials (PDF download) and CE test. Successful completion of the online CE test (80% required to pass, 3 chances to take) and course evaluation are required to earn a certificate of completion. Click here to learn more. Have a question? Contact us. We’re here to help!

Professional Development Resources is a nonprofit educational corporation 501(c)(3) organized in 1992. We are approved to sponsor continuing education by the American Psychological Association (APA); the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC); the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB); the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA); the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA); the Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR); the Alabama State Board of Occupational Therapy; the Florida Boards of Social Work, Mental Health Counseling and Marriage and Family Therapy, Psychology & School Psychology, Dietetics & Nutrition, Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, and Occupational Therapy Practice; the Ohio Counselor, Social Worker & MFT Board and Board of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology; the South Carolina Board of Professional Counselors & MFTs; the Texas Board of Examiners of Marriage & Family Therapists and State Board of Social Worker Examiners; and are CE Broker compliant (all courses are reported within a few days of completion).

Target Audience: PsychologistsCounselorsSocial WorkersMarriage & Family Therapist (MFTs)Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs)Occupational Therapists (OTs)Registered Dietitian Nutritionists (RDNs)School Psychologists, and Teachers

Earn CE Wherever YOU Love to Be!

Counseling Victims of Mass Shootings

New Online CE Course @pdresources.org

Counseling Victims of Mass ShootingsCounseling Victims of Mass Shootings is a new 3-hour online continuing education (CE) course that gives clinicians the tools they need to help their clients process, heal, and grow following the trauma of a mass shooting.

Sadly, mass shootings are becoming more widespread and occurring with ever greater frequency, often leaving in their wake thousands of lives forever changed. As victims struggle to make sense of the horror they have witnessed, mental health providers struggle to know how best to help them. The question we all seem to ask is, “Why did this happen?”

This course will begin with a discussion about why clinicians need to know about mass shootings and how this information can help them in their work with clients. We will then look at the etiology of mass shootings, exploring topics such as effects of media exposure, our attitudes and biases regarding mass shooters, and recognizing the signs that we often fail to see.

We will answer the question of whether mental illness drives mass shootings. We will examine common first responses to mass shootings, including shock, disbelief, and moral injury, while also taking a look at the effects of media exposure of the victims of mass shootings.

Then, we will turn our attention to the more prolonged psychological effects of mass shootings, such as a critical questioning and reconsideration of lives, values, beliefs, and priorities, and the search for meaning in the upheaval left in the wake of horrific events. This course will introduce a topic called posttraumatic growth, and explore the ways in which events such as mass shootings, while causing tremendous amounts of psychological distress, can also lead to psychological growth. This discussion will include topics such a dialectical thinking, the shifting of fundamental life perspectives, the opening of new possibilities, and the importance of community. Lastly, we will look at the exercises that you, the clinician, can use in the field or office with clients to promote coping skills in dealing with such horrific events, and to inspire psychological growth, adaptation, and resilience in the wake of trauma. Course #31-09 | 2018 | 47 pages | 20 posttest questions

Click here to learn more.

This online course provides instant access to the course materials (PDF download) and CE test (you can print the test to mark your answers on it while reading the course document). Successful completion of the online CE test (80% required to pass, 3 chances to take) and course evaluation are required to earn a certificate of completion. Click here to learn more. Have a question? Contact us. We’re here to help!

Professional Development Resources is a nonprofit educational corporation 501(c)(3) organized in 1992. We are approved to sponsor continuing education by the American Psychological Association (APA); the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC); the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB); the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA); the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA); the Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR); the Alabama State Board of Occupational Therapy; the Florida Boards of Social Work, Mental Health Counseling and Marriage and Family Therapy, Psychology & School Psychology, Dietetics & Nutrition, Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, and Occupational Therapy Practice; the Ohio Counselor, Social Worker & MFT Board and Board of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology; the South Carolina Board of Professional Counselors & MFTs; the Texas Board of Examiners of Marriage & Family Therapists and State Board of Social Worker Examiners; and are CE Broker compliant (all courses are reported within a few days of completion).

Target Audience: PsychologistsCounselorsSocial WorkersMarriage & Family Therapist (MFTs)Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs)Occupational Therapists (OTs)Registered Dietitian Nutritionists (RDNs)School Psychologists, and Teachers

Earn CE Wherever YOU Love to Be!

 

What It Means To Leverage Adversity

adversity

Today there is no shortage of adversity. In fact, recent data from the National Institute of Mental Health reports that six out of ten women and five out of ten men will face one or more major crises in their lifetime. And when they do, there will be plenty of resources – from self-help books to websites, podcasts, and “coaches” – to help them quickly move past it. Yet, the question remains, is moving past adversity quickly really the best approach?

Self-help gurus, sports coaches, and the media tell us that we should minimize our setbacks, overcome adversity, and quickly bounce back from failure. That should we miss our mark, make a mistake, say the wrong thing, wear the wrong clothes, or show up to the wrong meeting – all things quite possible – we should not waste any time getting right back on track. These mishaps should be reframed, filed away, overcome, or – whatever self-help lingo we may want to insert here – moved past. Even catastrophic events – the kind that shatter our very fundamental beliefs and assumptions about ourselves, the world, and everything we know – should be quickly overcome. Our resilience depends on it, or so we are told.

Yet for all of this talk about bouncing back from our setbacks, are we shortchanging ourselves? Is there something we can learn from adversity, struggle, or strife? Is it possible that struggling with what ails, confuses, derails, and even shatters us offers us something? In searching for new meaning in the aftermath of trauma, can we also find a way to cope that goes much further than providing us protection – known as resilience – against further setbacks? Maybe in the struggle, and not necessarily the victory, there is something to be learned, strength to be gained, skills to be perfected, and confidence to be reinforced. Should the victory come too quickly, perhaps we also become too focused on simply getting past the struggle and miss the opportunity that the good fight offers us. We may also place value on the very thing that causes us to lose focus. Perhaps in concentrating too intently on the victory, we are forgetting the journey.

Because the journey is not the victory and, in fact, may be nothing like victory. Instead, the journey may be rife with misses, failures, setbacks, disappointments, and defeats. It may also include tremendous joy, exultation, and reverie. The journey, like anything else, will include both highs and lows, and sometimes one will come right after the other. The hope is that for all of life’s challenges and moments of glory, there will also be growth.

Click here to learn more.

Course excerpt from Leveraging Adversity: Turning Setbacks into Springboards, a 6-hour online continuing education (CE) course that gives clinicians the tools they need to help their clients face adversity from a growth perspective and learn how to use setbacks to spring forward, and ignite growth.

While clients can seek the help of a psychotherapist for numerous reasons, one thing that all clients face is adversity. Whether in their own lives, or within the training program itself, adversity and setbacks are inevitable. And how clients handle adversity often colors not just their ability to move past it, but also their success in therapy. Packed with the most recent data on post-traumatic growth, behavioral economics, and evolutionary psychology, this course begins with a look at just what setbacks are and how they affect us. Clinicians are then introduced to the concept of “leveraging adversity,” that is, using it to make critical reconsiderations, align values with behavior, and face challenges with a growth mindset. The course then addresses the five core strengths of leveraging adversity – gratitude, openness, personal strength (growth mindset), connection, and belief – and provides numerous exercises and skills for clinicians to use with clients. Included are 25 separate handouts clinicians can give to clients to cement core concepts from the course. Course #61-03 | 2018 | 92 pages | 35 posttest questions

Professional Development Resources is a nonprofit educational corporation 501(c)(3) organized in 1992. We are approved to sponsor continuing education by the American Psychological Association (APA); the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC); the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB); the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA); the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA); the Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR); the Alabama State Board of Occupational Therapy; the Florida Boards of Social Work, Mental Health Counseling and Marriage and Family Therapy, Psychology & School Psychology, Dietetics & Nutrition, Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, and Occupational Therapy Practice; the Ohio Counselor, Social Worker & MFT Board and Board of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology; the South Carolina Board of Professional Counselors & MFTs; the Texas Board of Examiners of Marriage & Family Therapists and State Board of Social Worker Examiners; and are CE Broker compliant (all courses are reported within a few days of completion).

Target Audience: PsychologistsCounselorsSocial WorkersMarriage & Family Therapist (MFTs)Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs)Occupational Therapists (OTs)Registered Dietitian Nutritionists (RDNs)School Psychologists, and Teachers

Earn CE Wherever YOU Love to Be!