Watching a war: How to stay resilient and navigate mental health, misinformation
The barrage of news about the humanitarian crisis caused by the Israel-Hamas war has impacted the mental health of people living far away from the conflict. But there are ways to cope, constructively channel grief, and even take action in our own ways.
Little Thomas no longer gets to play LEGO on his mother’s phone. In fact, the six-year-old has been barred from even picking up a smartphone. Regina Abraham, his stay-at-home mom and a tuition teacher from Chennai, believes it’s the only way to keep him from chancing upon ground-zero videos of the Israel-Hamas war.
Every night, as she puts Thomas to sleep, he asks her “why people are hurting each other”.
“Sometimes his questions don’t stop. And we don’t have the answers that would convince him,” Abraham tells SocialStory. “What is haunting us as a family is the footage—of dead preterm babies inside hospitals, mothers who have lost their children to the violence, and families buried under the rubble of their own homes.”
Since the armed conflict broke out on October 7, close to 16,000 people—two-thirds of them women and children—have been killed. Over the last five weeks, social media has become a battlefield for an information war, with disturbing footage emerging from both sides.
“Our minds are unable to look beyond the carnage and destruction. This has made me panicky and kept me on the edge,” says Abraham.
A war doesn't just leave its imprint on the families of victims and survivors, but also permeates communities and societies living afar and watching the events unfold on their screens. Right from the Gulf War of 1990-91—the first international conflict to be televised live, wars have left many of us disturbed with graphic imagery and violence.
Information overload and its impact
Coming across personal stories of war on social media makes us deeply identify with those at the receiving end of the violence. Switching off from the cycle of 24x7 news, or at best, limiting the consumption of difficult information can be helpful, as per research by mental health scholars.
Studies show that news about war can cause anxiety and stress, and there’s a possibility that graphic coverage of these events can result in viewers physiologically experiencing trauma.
A few nights ago, when multimedia journalist Priyali Sur was scrolling through her phone, she saw a toddler crying for his mother who had died in the conflict. “I broke down instantly because, as a mother, I understand how much my own two-year-old son needs me,” says Sur, who also runs The Azadi Project, an organisation working for the rights of refugee women and girls.
“We are seeing symptoms of anxiety, grief and depression among middle-aged women exposed to news of the war on social media,” says Dr R Padmavati, Director at Schizophrenia Research Foundation, (SCARF) India. “Young people, on the other hand, are angry and reactive, and feel the need to lash out and blame someone, anyone,” she adds.
News and images of conflicts—especially involving communities with shared ethnic, cultural, or religious ties—lead to vicarious trauma, say mental health experts. “Diaspora communities may experience increased stress, anxiety, and PTSD symptoms, driven by concerns for the safety of loved ones and a sense of helplessness," says Sindhuja Sankaran, Assistant Professor of Social Psychology at Sai University, Chennai.
The pervasive nature of media today contributes to secondary traumatic stress, resulting in a feeling of overbearing frustration and powerlessness.
Analysing digital spaces, the global non-profit Asia Society concurred that when we exist online, we experience a curious shift in our personalities, which psychologists call a ‘virtual self-discrepancy’—the difference between our actual and ‘virtual’ selves. This dissonance has an adverse impact, particularly on young people, in the form of mood disorders, addiction formation, and how they interact with each other.
While the pandemic-induced isolation led to spending an excessive amount of time on social media platforms, it also resulted in higher instances of anxiety and depression, a group of health scientists from Iran concluded in a recent study.
Mis/disinformation on social media
Research shows that during global crises, social media becomes a breeding ground for misinformation—false or inaccurate information; and disinformation—deliberately misleading or biased information and propaganda.
In a systematic review, the World Health Organisation found that misleading and false health-related content on social media during pandemics, health emergencies and humanitarian crises led to mental and social distress. Fake news induces a state of paranoia linked to psychological issues—something the Iranian scientists agreed to as well in their study.
However, Dr Padmavati says that as social media quickly shifts focus from one big event to another, the mental health ramifications of news about the war may be temporary and likely to subside with time.
What you can do
The road to emotional and functional clarity lies outside of social media wars, say mental health practitioners.
The knee-jerk reaction to tragic news and the overwhelm it causes can make one emotionally stunted and subconsciously internalise all information, leading to angst and helplessness, says Aarti Madhusudan, who has two decades of experience in the development sector. “On the other hand, sitting with yourself to understand what is motivating you at a personal level to take action, can lead to conscious engagement, resulting in a sense of hope and agency,” she says.
In an attempt to counter hopelessness and fear during COVID-19, Ranjitha Jeurkar, a learning facilitator and a certified non-violent commutation (NVC) trainer, organised online ‘listening circles’ with her fellow NVC practitioners. Participants at these events were invited to share their own experiences of disconnect and loss, and this helped them find common ground, unity and a community that thrived beyond the conflict situation.
What helps in times like these is stepping back and assessing the influence you have over situations and what you can do about them. Across the country, the last few weeks have seen individuals and groups extending their voices through mourning and solidarity circles.
Mumbai-based artist Indu Lalitha Harikumar has invited people to embroider the names of Palestinians who have been killed in the war. “We have 50 people joining us now in what is an initiative in the spirit of solidarity and remembrance,” she says.
Children, both young and old, also need help processing catastrophic world events.
Hilit Kletter, a child and adolescent psychologist and Director of Stress and Resilience Clinic at Stanford Medicine, noted in a blog that when talking to children about the conflict in Israel and Gaza, it’s important to find out what they already know.
“Allow them to ask questions and express their feelings. This will allow you to correct any misperceptions. Be truthful, but don’t provide more information than they request. Focus on sharing the things that are being done to help the people, and the possibility that there will be a resolution to the problem,” wrote Kletter.
While younger children will need reassurance about their safety, parents can engage older children in realistic ways such as contributing to humanitarian aid, she added.
“But the first responsibility we can all take, as conscious citizens of the world, is to educate ourselves,” says psychologist, Indologist and interfaith researcher Urmi Chanda. Dr Padmavati too reiterates the clear difference one can feel in their mental health when they take the time to check the veracity of what they are consuming (which will help them accept what they can or cannot do), as opposed to participating in social media wars.
“When you educate yourself, you take the best action at your level and this can look like anything: talking to your local leaders, sharing conscious content on social media as a way to beat the algorithms, joining a citizens’ movement, or talking to your children,” says Chanda.
“The more we educate ourselves, the more our boundaries of empathy and compassion expand, leading to us making informed decisions,” she notes.
Edited by Kanishk Singh