A Rutgers expert is available to speak on the ways people react to survivors of violence after two suicides of students who survived the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and the suicide of Jeremy Richman, the father of a Sandy Hook school shooting victim.
“When people talk about survivors of violence, we often hear ‘They are the lucky ones: They cheated death,’ and on some level, they are. But from a psychological perspective, surviving such an intense traumatic experience, compounded by survivor’s guilt and any number of pre-existing difficulties a person may have had prior to the event, can lead to severe PTSD, despair, and suicide as we have seen this week,” said Petros Levounis, chair of the department of psychiatry at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School.
According to Levounis, signs of PTSD can have two distinct manifestations: an outward one, such as an intrusive re-experiencing of the traumatic event with flashbacks and nightmares, and a more inward one, such as depression, avoidance and an overall numbing feeling that a person may be experiencing.
“The latter is more ominous and requires a serious consideration for a referral to a mental health professional,” added Levounis.
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