SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — An overwhelming number of headlines, opinions and images of war in the Middle East have been flooding devices worldwide.
With social media's ubiquitous presence, the way people are consuming and digesting the war between Israel and Hamas is different from wars of decades past. The frontlines are quite literally at our fingertips; you can pull up a livestream of a bombed hospital, find horrific images of lives lost and even Hamas bodycam footage.
“It's very different… What we know is that the more distance you have from an event, the less impact it's going to have on your life. With everything that we're seeing — we feel like we're there. It feels very close to us. People can feel much more distressed,” said Dr. Sarah Simmons, a psychiatrist at Kaiser Permanente.
Dr. Simmons explained how this constant intake of graphic imagery can affect those around the world.
“People can feel helpless. They can feel hopeless and powerless, which is incredibly demoralizing,” Simmons said.
She said watching these events unfold in real time can be especially triggering for those with PTSD and can cause anxiety for anyone.
“If a person finds that they're drinking more or using substances to cope or they can't sleep, that's another sign that a person needs to either take a step back or seek some professional help,” she said.
And for anyone feeling helpless, she recommended finding community support to talk about what's happening, and to find ways to help those directly affected by war.
"Sometimes it can be helpful to realize that we have the power to help others," she said.
