trauma

Palestinians evacuate the area following an Israeli airstrike on the Sousi mosque in Gaza City on October 9, 2023. Images of suffering, violence and death in Gaza and Israel have flooded the news since Oct. 7.

Watching war unfold is distressing — here's how to protect your mental health

6:00am November 24, 2023

by Malaka Gharib

Doomscrolling won't help the people who are suffering and it might put you into a state of chronic stress. A psychiatrist who works with trauma shares advice for how to process global tragedy.

A girl looks on as she stands by the rubble outside a building hit by Israeli bombardment in the southern Gaza Strip on October 31, 2023. Children in Gaza have been exposed to high levels of violence even before the current war, researchers say, increasing their risk of mental health challenges.

How a history of trauma is affecting the children of Gaza

3:58pm November 10, 2023

by Rhitu Chatterjee

Even before the current war, researchers documented the impact of conflict on children in Gaza. Now they worry that kids who are trapped on the battlefield face long-term impacts on mental health.

Queue Listen Now

Left: A Palestinian woman cries at the garden of Al-Ahli Arabi Baptist Hospital after it was hit in Gaza City, Gaza on Oct. 18. Right: After an attack by Hamas on a kibbutz near the Gaza border, a swing is left intact while most of this family's house is in ruins. Five family members were kidnapped.

Health & Safety

The Middle East crisis is stirring up a 'tsunami' of mental health woes

4:56pm October 25, 2023

by Rhitu Chatterjee

The Israel-Gaza conflict is likely to leave people in the region struggling with trauma-related mental health symptoms for a long time to come.

Queue Listen Now

Psychiatrist Robert Jay Lifton has studied Auschwitz survivors, Vietnam war veterans, survivor of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and people who'd been subjected to repression by the Chinese government. He reflects on what he's learned in his new book, Surviving Our Catastrophes: Resilience and Renewal from Hiroshima to the Covid-19 Pandemic.

Health & Safety

What survivors of trauma have taught this eminent psychiatrist about hope

8:46pm October 08, 2023

by Joanne Silberner

In his new book, 97-year-old Robert Jay Lifton shares the "survivor wisdom" he's learned from those who've lived through terrible events — the Holocaust, Hiroshima, POW camps.

Health & Safety

Black community organizers host week of healing for those impacted by gun violence

3:33pm June 02, 2023

by Amy Diaz

Black community organizers in Winston-Salem are hosting a week of events intended to help people heal from the impacts of gun violence.

People hug at a memorial at the entrance to the Covenant School on Wednesday in Nashville, Tenn.

A therapist has advice for how to cope with repeated mass shootings: Lean into family

12:20pm March 30, 2023

by Rachel Treisman

The U.S. sees hundreds of mass shootings each year — so many that some people have survived more than one. A therapist offers advice for how to cope with the trauma.

Queue Listen Now

Almost 60% of teen girls in the U.S. had depressive symptoms in the past year, according to new survey data published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And nearly 1 in 3 said they'd seriously considered suicide.

Health & Safety

Teen girls and LGBTQ+ youth plagued by violence and trauma, survey says

7:43pm February 13, 2023

by Rhitu Chatterjee

Nearly one in three girls reported seriously considering suicide in the past year – a 60% rise from a decade ago, according to the CDC survey data.

Queue Listen Now

A group of teachers visiting from Dilley, Texas, view a memorial honoring the victims killed in last week's elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, Friday, June 3, 2022.

National

This is how handguns and assault weapons affect the human body

6:21am June 06, 2022

The effect of assault weapons is much greater in children, as the surface area of their organs and arteries are smaller, said Dr. Joseph Sakran, a trauma surgeon at Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Left: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Feb. 22. Right: Zelenskyy on April 4.

Images of Zelenskyy show the physical toll that trauma and stress can have on the body

6:00am April 13, 2022

by Jaclyn Diaz

Health experts told NPR that long-term exposure to trauma and stress — like that of the war in Ukraine — can impact a person's sleep, memory, mood and physical appearance.

Opinion: A jet flew by in Michigan. It reminded me that wartime trauma is hard to heal

10:22am April 10, 2022

by Maji Hailemariam Debena

Conflicts in Ethiopia, Ukraine and other countries cause psychological trauma that can last far beyond any ceasefire. An Ethiopian-born mental health epidemiologist shares her insights.