Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

PSYCHOLOGY

Trauma, media and the brain

  • News & Views
  • Published:

From Nature Human Behaviour

View current issue Submit your manuscript

Greater exposure to media coverage of traumatic events is associated with greater symptoms of post-traumatic stress. A new study by Dick et al. indicates that this relationship is stronger in youth with a specific pattern of brain activation that may make them more vulnerable to the effects of trauma.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Breslau, N. The epidemiology of posttraumatic stress disorder: what is the extent of the problem? J. Clin. Psychiatry 62(suppl. 17), 16–22 (2001).

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Holman, E. A., Garfin, D. R. & Silver, R. C. Media’s role in broadcasting acute stress following the Boston Marathon bombings. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 111, 93–98 (2014).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Schlenger, W. E. et al. Psychological reactions to terrorist attacks: findings from the National Study of Americans’ Reactions to September 11. J. Am. Med. Assoc. 288, 581–588 (2002).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Dick, A. S. et al. Neural vulnerability and hurricane-related media are associated with posttraumatic stress in youth. Nat. Hum. Behav. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-021-01216-3 (2021).

  5. McLaughlin, K. A. et al. Amygdala response to negative stimuli predicts PTSD symptom onset following a terrorist attack. Depress. Anxiety 31, 834–842 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Likhtik, E. & Paz, R. Amygdala-prefrontal interactions in (mal)adaptive learning. Trends Neurosci. 38, 158–166 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Weathers, F. W., Marx, B. P., Friedman, M. J. & Schnurr, P. P. Posttraumatic stress disorder in DSM-5: new criteria, new measures, and implications for assessment. Psychol. Inj. Law 7, 93–107 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Tufts University, Medford, MA, USA

    Lisa M. Shin & Samuel R. Sommers

  2. Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA, USA

    Lisa M. Shin

Authors
  1. Lisa M. Shin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Samuel R. Sommers
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lisa M. Shin.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Shin, L.M., Sommers, S.R. Trauma, media and the brain. Nat Hum Behav 5, 1471–1472 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-021-01224-3

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-021-01224-3

  • Springer Nature Limited

Search

Navigation