美国国家公共电台 NPR--A therapist has advice for how to cope with repeated mass shootings: Lean into family

A therapist has advice for how to cope with repeated mass shootings: Lean into family

Transcript¹

Monday's tragedy in Nashville was the 130th mass shooting this year, according to a tracker from the Gun Violence Archive. That means there have been more such incidents than days in 2023, just three months into the year.

In fact, mass shootings have become so common that some people have lived through more than one.

One of them, Ashbey Beasley, made headlines this week when she crashed a press conference about the Covenant² School shooting to make the case for stronger gun laws.

Beasley is from Highland³ Park, Ill., where a shooter killed seven people and injured dozens of others during a Fourth of July parade last year. She and her now 7-year-old son were at that parade, an experience that spurred her involvement in gun safety advocacy.

Beasley had stopped to visit family in Nashville on her way back from Washington, D.C., where she took part in a rally urging Congress to pass a federal assault weapons ban over the weekend, member station WBEZ reports.

On Monday she was planning to have lunch with her friend Shaundelle Brooks⁴, whose son was killed in a mass shooting at a Nashville Waffle House in 2018. But Brooks called her first in a panic, saying her other son's school had gone into lockdown because of the shooting nearby.

Beasley rushed to the area to check on Brooks and her son, and from there made her way to the scene of the shooting to see if she could help — and ended up making an impromptu⁵ speech to reporters, which has since gone viral.

"Because only in America can you survive a mass shooting and go and make a friend who is the victim of a mass shooting and then go to meet that friend for lunch ... and end up in the middle of another mass shooting event," she later told The Washington Post.

What it's like living through multiple school shootings

Some students have spoken out about surviving multiple shootings at different schools.

In February, a gunman fatally shot three students and injured five others on the campus of Michigan State University (MSU).

Among those sheltering in place was Jackie Matthews, a college senior who had been a sixth-grader at Sandy Hook Elementary School at the time of the 2012 shooting.

She had crouched⁶ in the corner of her classroom for so long that she got a PTSD fracture in two vertebrae in her lower back, which still flares⁷ up in times of stress, she said in a TikTok video filmed across the street from where some of the MSU shootings happened.

"The fact that this is the second mass shooting that I have now lived through is incomprehensible," said Matthews, 21.

There were also nearly two dozen students at MSU who had recently graduated from Michigan's Oxford⁸ High School, where a gunman killed four students in Nov. 2021.

Just over a year later, freshman⁹ Emma Riddle¹⁰ found herself locked down in her dorm room after getting an alert about an active shooter on her college campus.

"Fourteen months ago I had to evacuate¹¹ from Oxford High [School] when a fifteen year old opened fire and killed four of my classmates and injured seven more," she tweeted. "Tonight, I am sitting under my desk at Michigan State [University], once again texting everyone 'I love you.' When will this end?"

The tragedies are stressful even from afar

Living through a mass shooting can be traumatic. And going through that experience multiple times can cause chronic¹³ stress, says Michael Davidovits, a family therapist and the assistant director of the Project for Adolescents and their Families at New York's Ackerman Institute.

"The old fight and flight responses that we all learned about in Psych 101 ... work well if there is a problem that you can solve by either running away from it or attacking it," he tells Morning Edition's A Martínez. "But when it comes to repeated stress and problems that just continue to exist in our environment, they don't work, and we're just left with the behaviors, which themselves cause more stress."

When it comes to kids and families, Davidovits says he's seeing problems on both ends of the spectrum¹⁴, from increasing aggression¹⁵ and bullying¹⁶ in school to increasing social withdrawal¹⁷ and depression.

"When you're in that state of stress and alarm and vigilance, you're looking for danger," he adds. "You're not looking for connection, you're not looking for the sustenance¹⁸ that comes from being with other people."

Mass shootings impact society as a whole, even if people aren't experiencing them firsthand, he says.

Part of that is "it's always on the landscape," with most school districts holding regular lockdown drills and many getting threatening calls. Davidovits says that creates an environment of fear — especially of each other. Davidovits says that creates an environment of fear — especially of each other.

"We're looking for what's wrong and what this person might be up to, might be possibly doing to us, rather than looking for opportunities to join with people, to have connection," he adds. "The more disconnected we feel from each other affects us in society, affects families."

Family and community connections matter

Davidovits says if there's one place where people will feel safe, it's in their connections to the people they love and who matter to them the most.

That's why he's especially distressed¹⁹ to see "patterns of disconnection" in families where kids are isolating²⁰ themselves while parents are struggling to both help them and manage their own stress.

So what's the best way to cope? Much expert advice has been offered about everything from how to talk to kids about bad news to navigating²¹ secondary trauma¹².

Davidovits encourages people to attend to their communities. He tells parents to model that behavior for their kids, like smiling at a stranger on the elevator.

"Most people return a smile with a smile," he says. "And I know that seems like a sort of almost trite²² and small thing, but there's been a lot of research that's been done now on how that alleviates²³ anxiety, to experience strangers as beneficent rather than malevolent²⁴."

He also emphasizes the importance of strengthening relationships.

While deeper connections to family members and loved ones don't necessarily solve the problem, he says, they do provide the sense of safety that people are craving²⁵ so much.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 covenant   

n.盟约，契约；v.订盟约

参考例句：

• They refused to covenant with my father for the property.他们不愿与我父亲订立财产契约。
• The money was given to us by deed of covenant.这笔钱是根据契约书付给我们的。

3 highland   

n.(pl.)高地，山地

参考例句：

• The highland game is part of Scotland's cultural heritage.苏格兰高地游戏是苏格兰文化遗产的一部分。
• The highland forests where few hunters venture have long been the bear's sanctuary.这片只有少数猎人涉险的高山森林，一直都是黑熊的避难所。

4 brooks   

n.小溪( brook的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Brooks gave the business when Haas caught him with his watch. 哈斯抓到偷他的手表的布鲁克斯时，狠狠地揍了他一顿。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Ade and Brooks exchanged blows yesterday and they were severely punished today. 艾德和布鲁克斯昨天打起来了，今天他们受到严厉的惩罚。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 impromptu   

adj.即席的，即兴的；adv.即兴的(地)，无准备的(地)

参考例句：

• The announcement was made in an impromptu press conference at the airport.这一宣布是在机场举行的临时新闻发布会上作出的。
• The children put on an impromptu concert for the visitors.孩子们为来访者即兴献上了一场音乐会。

6 crouched   

v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He crouched down beside her. 他在她的旁边蹲了下来。
• The lion crouched ready to pounce. 狮子蹲下身，准备猛扑。

7 flares   

n.喇叭裤v.（使）闪耀( flare的第三人称单数 )；（使）（船舷）外倾；（使）鼻孔张大；（使）（衣裙、酒杯等）呈喇叭形展开

参考例句：

• The side of a ship flares from the keel to the deck. 船舷从龙骨向甲板外倾。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He's got a fiery temper and flares up at the slightest provocation. 他是火爆性子，一点就着。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

8 Oxford   

n.牛津（英国城市）

参考例句：

• At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
• This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。

9 freshman   

n.大学一年级学生(可兼指男女)

参考例句：

• Jack decided to live in during his freshman year at college.杰克决定大一时住校。
• He is a freshman in the show business.他在演艺界是一名新手。

10 riddle   

n.谜，谜语，粗筛；vt.解谜，给…出谜，筛，检查，鉴定，非难，充满于；vi.出谜

参考例句：

• The riddle couldn't be solved by the child.这个谜语孩子猜不出来。
• Her disappearance is a complete riddle.她的失踪完全是一个谜。

11 evacuate   

v.遣送；搬空；抽出；排泄；大(小)便

参考例句：

• We must evacuate those soldiers at once!我们必须立即撤出这些士兵！
• They were planning to evacuate the seventy American officials still in the country.他们正计划转移仍滞留在该国的70名美国官员。

12 trauma   

n.外伤，精神创伤

参考例句：

• Counselling is helping him work through this trauma.心理辅导正帮助他面对痛苦。
• The phobia may have its root in a childhood trauma.恐惧症可能源于童年时期的创伤。

13 chronic   

adj.(疾病)长期未愈的，慢性的；极坏的

参考例句：

• Famine differs from chronic malnutrition.饥荒不同于慢性营养不良。
• Chronic poisoning may lead to death from inanition.慢性中毒也可能由虚弱导致死亡。

14 spectrum   

n.谱，光谱，频谱；范围，幅度，系列

参考例句：

• This is a kind of atomic spectrum.这是一种原子光谱。
• We have known much of the constitution of the solar spectrum.关于太阳光谱的构成，我们已了解不少。

15 aggression   

n.进攻，侵略，侵犯，侵害

参考例句：

• So long as we are firmly united, we need fear no aggression.只要我们紧密地团结，就不必惧怕外来侵略。
• Her view is that aggression is part of human nature.她认为攻击性是人类本性的一部份。

16 bullying   

v.恐吓，威逼( bully的现在分词 )；豪；跋扈

参考例句：

• Many cases of bullying go unreported . 很多恐吓案件都没有人告发。
• All cases of bullying will be severely dealt with. 所有以大欺小的情况都将受到严肃处理。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 withdrawal   

n.取回，提款；撤退，撤军；收回，撤销

参考例句：

• The police were forced to make a tactical withdrawal.警方被迫进行战术撤退。
• They insisted upon a withdrawal of the statement and a public apology.他们坚持要收回那些话并公开道歉。

18 sustenance   

n.食物，粮食；生活资料；生计

参考例句：

• We derive our sustenance from the land.我们从土地获取食物。
• The urban homeless are often in desperate need of sustenance.城市里无家可归的人极其需要食物来维持生命。

19 distressed   

痛苦的

参考例句：

• He was too distressed and confused to answer their questions. 他非常苦恼而困惑，无法回答他们的问题。
• The news of his death distressed us greatly. 他逝世的消息使我们极为悲痛。

20 isolating   

adj.孤立的，绝缘的v.使隔离( isolate的现在分词 )；将…剔出（以便看清和单独处理）；使（某物质、细胞等）分离；使离析

参考例句：

• Colour filters are not very effective in isolating narrow spectral bands. 一些滤色片不能很有效地分离狭窄的光谱带。 来自辞典例句
• This became known as the streak method for isolating bacteria. 这个方法以后就称为分离细菌的划线法。 来自辞典例句

21 navigating   

v.给（船舶、飞机等）引航，导航( navigate的现在分词 )；（从海上、空中等）横越；横渡；飞跃

参考例句：

• These can also be very useful when navigating time-based documents, such as video and audio. 它对于和时间有关的文档非常有用，比如视频和音频文档。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• Vehicles slowed to a crawl on city roads, navigating slushy snow. 汽车在市区路上行驶缓慢，穿越泥泞的雪地。 来自互联网

22 trite   

adj.陈腐的

参考例句：

• The movie is teeming with obvious and trite ideas.这部电影充斥着平铺直叙的陈腐观点。
• Yesterday,in the restaurant,Lorraine had seemed trite,blurred,worn away.昨天在饭店里，洛兰显得庸俗、堕落、衰老了。

23 alleviates   

减轻，缓解，缓和( alleviate的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Heat often alleviates pain. 热常常能减缓疼痛。
• A cold compress often alleviates pain. 冷敷常会减轻疼痛。

24 malevolent   

adj.有恶意的，恶毒的

参考例句：

• Why are they so malevolent to me?他们为什么对我如此恶毒？
• We must thwart his malevolent schemes.我们决不能让他的恶毒阴谋得逞。

25 craving   

n.渴望,热望

参考例句：

• a craving for chocolate 非常想吃巧克力
• She skipped normal meals to satisfy her craving for chocolate and crisps. 她不吃正餐，以便满足自己吃巧克力和炸薯片的渴望。