BUFFALO, N.Y. -- After a collective trauma, such as Thursday's crashof Continental Flight 3407 near Buffalo, an entire community (or even the nation) can be exposed to the tragedy through media coverage and second-hand accounts, according to Mark Seery, Ph.D., University at Buffalo assistant professor of psychology.
"Individuals potentially suffer negative effects on their mental andphysical health, even if they have not 'directly' experienced the lossof someone they know or have not witnessed the event or its aftermathin person," Seery says.
In this type of situation, it is common for people to think thateveryone exposed to the tragedy will need to talk about it, and if theydo not, they are suppressing their "true" thoughts and feelings, whichwill only rebound later and cause them problems.
This is not always the case, Seery explains.
"Expressing one's thoughts and feelings to a supportive listener cancertainly be a good thing, whether it is to family and friends or to aprofessional therapist or counselor. However, this does not mean thatit is bad or unhealthy to not want to express thoughts and feelingswhen given the opportunity."
Seery's perspective results from his research of people's responsesfollowing the terrorist attacks of 9/11. He and colleagues studied anational sample of people, most of whom did not witness the events inperson or lose a loved one. They did, however, experience the eventsthrough media coverage.
"We found that people who chose not to express at all or who expressedonly a small amount in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy werebetter off over the following two years than people who expressed more.Specifically, they reported lower levels of mental and physical healthsymptoms."
From this research Seery concludes there is no single correct orhealthy way to deal with a tragedy such as the crash of Flight 3407,which claimed 50 lives.
"People are generally resilient and have a good sense of what copingstrategies will work for them," Seery says. "If they need to talk,they will talk, and friends and family can help by listeningsupportively. At the same time, they should not force the issue or makeanyone feel like something is wrong with them if they do not want totalk about it."
Source: University at Buffalo
University at Buffalo psychologist Mark Seery studies how people cope with trauma. Despite conventional wisdom to the contrary, Seery says its okay not to talk about your feelings after a traumatic event.
(Photo Credit: University at Buffalo)