After mass shootings or acts of terrorism, survivors often struggle with long-lasting psychological consequences. Harvard Public Health spoke with Angela Moreland, professor at the National Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center at the Medical University of South Carolina, about finding unexpectedly high rates of PTSD across communities where such violence has taken place.
Why did you want to study this topic?
In working with communities experiencing mass violence incidents, we were caught off guard by how much the entire community was impacted mentally. Community members are often hesitant to seek care because they feel that survivors who were at the scene need it more. The focus of research in the field has typically focused on survivors, but our research shows that there are ripples across the entire community.
What were your main findings?
In 2020, we randomly sampled adults in communities that had experienced a mass violence incident between 2015 and 2019. Among our findings: Nearly 25 percent of them met the diagnostic criteria for PTSD in the prior year— significantly exceeding the average in the general population, where 4.9 percent of people experience PTSD in any given year.
We also found that people with high levels of social support were half as likely to experience PTSD compared to those without that support.
What would you like to see happen based on the results of your study?
Mass violence incidents should be examined through a community and public health lens. This could include assessing the broader community’s needs and exploring options to address PTSD. It is also important to define buffers against mental health effects, such as social support, as well as factors that raise the risk of impact.
—Kynza Khimani
(Study in JAMA Network, July 2024)
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