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There’s been plenty of tragedy in the news lately, and with 24/7 coverage of every new development, I’m sure I’m not the only audience member to feel overwhelmed at times.

Moreover, if you’ve taught news and media literacy, or even just had conversations about news with adults, you’ve probably heard people say that one reason they don’t watch news is because of all of the depressing, sad stuff they see. After the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, writer Steve Silberman posted on Twitter, “Since 9/11 or so we’ve all been watching videos that look like the world is ending. I’m getting PVSD or something.”

Perhaps a goal for media literacy instructors might be to help people deal with coverage of these tragic events so that they can stay up-to-date, but don’t develop “PVSD” by doing so.

Silberman’s term PVSD brings to mind PTSD, of course, though media viewers are obviously not frontline victims of the trauma. Yet are media viewers also at risk for psychological harm when they see hours upon hours of crisis coverage? Even though they lack direct contact with those suffering the effects of disaster and war, and do not necessarily experience personal loss or injury, the immediacy of and immersion in the tragedy that are offered by 24/7 news coverage could have a lesser but important effect on audiences.

There’s a fair amount of research on this topic, summarized nicely here (though this document is probably due for an update). According to this fact sheet, research conducted both right after a tragedy and later on indicates that adults not directly involved in the event demonstrate “a positive relationship between exposure to media coverage of the event and symptoms of anxiety and distress.” Moreover:

• Viewing a tragedy live on television appears to strengthen the relationship between media exposure and symptoms of PTSD.
• Some images of tragedy seem more distressing than others. For example, among direct victims of the September 11 attacks, those who frequently viewed images of people falling or jumping from the WTC reported more symptoms of PTSD and depression. It is unclear however, how long this effect lasts.
• Given the sparse research literature, it is difficult to make generalizations. Furthermore, it is unknown if people who are more distressed choose to consume more disaster-related news, or if news of the disaster causes distress, or if there is some other causal mechanism. It is important to note that media coverage may serve as a traumatic reminder to those affected by the event.

So the research is inconclusive so far, but there may be a relationship between viewing media coverage of tragedy and ongoing distress from PTSD- or depression-like symptoms. Additionally, simply avoiding the coverage may not be an option, especially for media and journalism students who are often required to keep up with the news for their classes.

Strategies generally suggested for “self-care” of PTSD might be good ones to recommend to students and other adults finding coverage of tragedy difficult to take. The VA offers some standard suggestions for PTSD sufferers that could be useful in this situation (selected and adapted from this guide for those who have been directly involved in disasters):

• Remind yourself that stress reactions after disaster are common.
• Spend time with or help others. Disasters are unique types of trauma in that most often many people have been affected. Being with family, friends, neighbors, or others may help you realize that you are not the only one affected…Providing support or rebuilding lifts your mood and makes you feel less alone.
• If you are grieving, find a way to honor the losses…Try writing about your loss or creating a ritual, ceremony, or service to express your grief.
• Take a time out if you’re feeling angry. The stress that comes along with disasters can create irritability and anger. This can affect your health, sense of self-control, and relationships.

To this list, I’d add the following suggestions, thinking particularly of my college students:

• Choose your conversation partners carefully. Yes, it’s good to discuss the things you’ve seen in the news with someone else, as the above guidelines recommend. But this is not the time to talk to friends who relish magnifying the drama of every life event, and who will probably not help you keep the current events in perspective. Find your grounded, even-tempered friends to keep you company and discuss these difficult topics.
• Don’t watch or read about the difficult topic too soon before bedtime. Not to sound juvenile, but the effects on your sleep and dream life can be very real. Experiencing events similar to the tragedy even in your dreams can make them feel more real and personal, especially if people from your real life are brought into dream-world situations like those happening in the news.
• Avoid social media discussion of a topic if you are having difficulty coping with it. On one hand, you can get some good information, and social media do let you share your feelings with others. On the other hand, the constant flow of (often unconfirmed) new developments may be overwhelming, and the inability to pre-screen the links on which you’re clicking may lead you to see things you aren’t emotionally prepared to see. Gathering information on the topic in a more deliberate way, using primarily media that have been produced with some time lag for verification, can ensure you stay up-to-date, but don’t have to ride an emotional roller coaster with every new tweet or Facebook status update.

We know that coverage of disaster and war won’t go away anytime soon, and perhaps it will become more graphic in various ways. If we want young people to be able to keep up with the news and deal with its potential consequences for their psychological well-being, it might be helpful to offer them some specific things they can do when faced with wall-to-wall coverage of potentially traumatic events.

Fascinatingly, it seems that surviving trauma, though it’s certainly not a good thing, may for some people result not in PTSD, but in what some researchers (New York Times link; more here) call post-traumatic growth:

P.T.G. research suggests that an encounter with severe trauma can actually lead to highly positive changes in individuals.

It can also increase their resiliency to subsequent adversity. Today, some researchers say that posttraumatic growth is far more common than long-term posttraumatic stress disorder. The norm is to adapt and grow following trauma.

By teaching coping skills for dealing with difficult media content, we can also perhaps help students see that these are, in fact, skills for dealing with a variety of challenging life situations. That’s a valuable lesson that reaches well beyond media literacy.