Nightmares, Anxiety And Suicides: How Life Remains Fraught With Traumatic Memories A Year After Parkland Shooting
Recent suicides have highlighted how even as the world moves forward following a mass shooting, the traumatic event stays with victims and others touched by the tragedy. “You can’t let the shooting define your whole life,” said Hollan Holm, who was 14 when on Dec. 1, 1997, a fellow student opened fire at a prayer circle at Heath High School in West Paducah, Ky. “But you can’t put it behind you.”
The New York Times:
‘You Can’t Put It Behind You’: School Shootings Leave Long Trail Of Trauma
Kelly Plaur is still having nightmares almost every night. In the mornings, she recounts them to her mother, though the theme is usually the same: the horror she witnessed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School last year when a gunman opened fire in her classroom, killing two students and injuring four others. A few weeks ago, Ms. Plaur, 18, had to withdraw from the paramedic training program she had started after she was overcome with anxiety while transporting a gunshot victim. Even the sight of certain window blinds can put her on edge, reminding her of the bullet holes that pierced the classroom blinds on the day of the rampage. (Mazzei and Jordan, 3/28)
Los Angeles Times:
Suicides Highlight The Toll Of School Shootings And The Role Of ‘Complicated Grief’
After three suicides in 10 days involving people directly affected by school shootings, there’s renewed interest in a condition that psychologists call “complicated grief.” Long after a mass-casualty event, roughly 10% of people experience the enduring or chronic depression and distress that are hallmarks of the condition. Scientists are still trying to understand whether, or by how much, the circumstances of a loved one’s death raise the risk of complicated grief. (Healy, 3/27)
The Associated Press:
Parkland Parents, Teachers Seek To Help Teens After Suicides
Days after the suicides of two student survivors of the Parkland school shooting, parents and teachers packed a town hall Wednesday night, anxiously wondering out loud how to get students to seek therapy as many have been unwilling — despite a barrage of offerings since the 2018 massacre. On Wednesday night, anxious parents in the standing-room only crowd spoke of fears and frustration in trying to get their children help after the Valentine's Day massacre that February, which killed 17 people. (3/27)
Miami Herald:
Parkland Suicides Prompt Lawmakers To Consider More Funding
When lawmakers gave more than $69 million in mental health to school districts after the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High shooting, many cast the funding as a way to help prevent future mass shootings and identify troubled students who needed help. But there was little discussion while crafting the bill — and no mention in the final 105 pages of legislation — that specifically directed schools to consider suicide prevention efforts, the most pressing mental health challenge facing a generation and the second leading cause of death for young people under 35. (Koh, 3/27)
