Dr Holman said people are mentally affected by such incidents based on their own life experiences.
“Perhaps somebody that used to travel on that bridge a lot may feel guilt or remorse because they ended up not being on the bridge that time, but somebody they knew was on the bridge and died,” said Dr Holman.
She emphasised, however, that there is no one way for people to respond to such events.
AVOIDING VISUALS
In the age of social media, it is difficult to avoid images and videos being shared in near real-time when a tragedy occurs. However, there are risks and dangers involved in indiscriminately sharing them.
“Our research shows very clearly that the more you expose yourself to media coverage of such events, and the more you expose yourself to graphic images of that kind, you’re more likely to have post-traumatic stress symptoms,” said Dr Holman.
“I’m talking about experiences of re-experiencing the event over and over, maybe having intrusive thoughts about it, or trying to avoid anything that reminds you of it, and feeling hypervigilant,” she explained.