Like other collective traumas - 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, The Great Recession, COVID-19 - school shootings affect us both directly and indirectly. Researchers have linked exposure to media covering traumatic events and symptoms of posttraumatic stress in viewers. In other words, whether someone is there on the scene or miles away watching the news, witnessing human suffering and mass destruction have similar effects. When the incident involves random violence against innocent people in a space where they should feel safe, that traumatic impact for all of us increases. 

Considering the prevalence of gun violence on school campuses in our country and on the news, it’s important to recognize the way these events affect our mental health. While school shootings represent only 1% of all gun related fatalities in the United States, the youth of the typical victims and perpetrators, political and legal conflict sparked by the incidents, and ensuing media coverage elevate their impact. That’s not to say that gun violence in schools hasn’t been on the rise. 

The definition of a school shooting varies across organizations, but some estimates indicate that the U.S. has experienced over 400 school shootings since Columbine in 1999. Everytown for Gun Safety reports that in 2025 alone, there were 91 school shootings in the United States. The number of incidents have been on the rise over the years with a sharp increase starting in 2021, right after the initial impact of COVID-19. As we support one another through collective traumas like school shootings, it’s important to recognize how our lives have changed and how our mental health has been affected in the wake of their increase.

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How do school shootings at schools affect survivors?

While our attention is naturally drawn to incidents with the most fatalities, the majority of school shootings are thankfully non-fatal. A study from Stanford estimated that over 100,000 children in the U.S. attended a school where a mass shooting had occurred between 2018 and 2019. Only 70% of the incidents surveyed ended in fatalities, but survivors sustained physical and/or mental injuries from the experience. The children and young adults who survive school shootings have experienced serious trauma while their brains are still developing, and the effects of that trauma can follow them for decades. 

Unsurprisingly, the experience of being ambushed by a peer in a supposedly safe space makes it hard to concentrate in school, and without sufficient support a student can struggle with performance and absenteeism. School shootings also make it more difficult for students to get the support they need due to teacher turnover, disruption of the school year, and the impact of the event on fellow students, educators, and administrators. Survivors typically experience PTSD and show lower rates of graduation and employment than their peers even years after the shooting occurred.

Intervention from a therapist, counselor, or other certified mental health professional can be helpful in these cases. Acute PTSD from a single incident, or complex PTSD from a series of incidents over a longer period, are both considered highly treatable in the therapeutic community. There are proven psychotherapies and medications that show success in bringing a displaced PTSD sufferer to a new normal, but this process takes time and patience.

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How do mass shootings at schools affect the rest of us?

Even if you and your loved ones have never directly experienced a school shooting, you have indirectly experienced its effects. Active shooter drills, peer discussion of school shootings, and their coverage on news and social media are increasingly common among school children and adults alike. According to Dr. Jonathan S. Comer, “There’s a great deal of evidence that individuals who are far away from mass shootings can face anxiety and impairments, and this is often correlated with the amount of media exposure they have.” In other words, just knowing about a recent shooting affects our health, and the more media covering the incident that we consume, the worse the effects become. 

The drive to seek information when we experience trauma is understandable and has real but limited benefits. When we hear about a school shooting, our first instinct is likely to look up the news on our phones and try to learn where it happened, whether the shooter has been arrested, etc. Getting confirmation of these details from a trusted source can reduce the stress of uncertainty that makes these incidents uniquely disconcerting. However, the more media we consume, the greater our need to reduce that uncertainty becomes. 

In their article Impact of Media-Induced Uncertainty on Mental Health, researchers Kesner, Juríčková, Grygarová, and Horáček assert that news media is designed to leverage our discomfort with uncertainty and create a kind of dependence on information. That dependence creates a cycle of compulsive information seeking; the news presents information and projects potential outcomes of an event, which prompts us to seek out more information to reduce the uncertainty triggered by those projections. Anyone who’s fallen down a YouTube or Wikipedia rabbit hole knows how this feels.

Engaging in this cycle of compulsive information seeking, particularly as a coping mechanism following a traumatic event like a school shooting, has proven to be bad for our physical and mental health. Side effects from anxiety and depression to cardiovascular problems have been reported from people who find themselves trapped in this cycle. It’s important to stay informed so that we can be compassionate to one another in the wake of these tragedies, but it’s equally important to balance staying informed with staying grounded.

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What can we do to process and cope?

1. Limit media consumption

This is the heart of the matter and it’s hard to do. When something traumatic occupies an outsized space in your mind, our reflex is often to either dig in deeper or seek another distraction.

Digging in deeper: 

If you’re anxious about being in public after an incident of gun violence on school grounds, researching how to spot an active shooter or how to protect yourself or your loved ones feels like a good idea. After all, if you’re more informed then you’re more prepared. The downside to this approach is that research suggests leaning into preparation for disaster can lead to the negative health effects associated with doomscrolling. By all means keep yourself current on the best safety practices for you and your family, and stay up to date on important world events, but don’t spend more than two hours per day looking up escape routes and reading clickbait like “Five Signs Your Neighbor Is Planning a Mass Shooting.”

If you’re truly concerned that someone you know is mentally compromised enough to hurt themselves or others on school grounds, Sandy Hook Promise offers an anonymous tip line that has saved lives: https://www.sandyhookpromise.org/say-something-tips/ Spending hours online researching school shootings won’t save anyone, and will hurt you..

Seeking distraction: 

If you’re just trying to get your mind off the news, scrolling on social or playing games on your phone also feels like a good idea. It will definitely distract you for a while, but it won’t help you process what’s going on. Social media specifically is designed to engage rather than inform and inspire; that means it will prioritize content based on its virality rather than its informative or aesthetic value. The most viral content leverages our discomfort with uncertainty to keep us wanting more information, or more stimulation. The flat yet jittery feeling you get after hours on your phone comes from being baited and switched by an engagement cycle that creates dissatisfaction it promises to fulfill.

Two hours daily is the max recommended screen time for adults; three hours or more is considered harmful to our physical and mental health. That said, the less screen time the better. Leaving your phone outside your bedroom at bedtime, using your phone and/or laptop settings to lock you out after your allotted time, or turning off your wifi for a day are all things you can try to reduce your screentime and give yourself a little more peace of mind in these difficult times.

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2. Start feeling again 

We are barraged with news and data from around the world and across time daily, and there’s no way our limited human brains were meant to hold all this information. “Psychic numbness” is a coping mechanism our minds might employ when overloaded with information, especially when it concerns violence against vulnerable people. We intuitively feel concern for others when they are affected by violence, but research indicates that this concern doesn’t scale up well. The more people are affected by a national trauma, and the longer we experience that trauma through the media, the less our brains can process, and the less you can feel for them, or for anyone else. It’s a protective measure that might cushion the blow of these terrible events for a short time, but over time psychic numbness can become depression. It’s ok to take a break from feeling for a time, but when you’re ready, you need to wake yourself up again so you can adjust to normal life.

Weatherperson exercise: 

Find a safe space outside to experience the weather. Step into your yard or your balcony, or open a window or your front door. Close your eyes and take three deep breaths through your nose. Do you smell wet grass or cement? Feel the sun on your face - how warm is it? Feel the breeze in your hair and clothes - is it dry or humid? Warm or cool? Is there rain or snow? Listen to leaves blowing across the sidewalk, cars driving through puddles, or feet crunching through snow. Now open your eyes and check the clouds - are they white and fluffy, purple and stormy? Write everything down with the date and time. When it feels like everything bad is happening all at once all over the world, go outside and check the weather using your senses. Remind yourself that no matter what is happening in your life or on the news, you are part of a complex and ever shifting world, connected both to the earth and to the sky. Like a cloud, a breeze, or a storm, the events of our lives will pass, and we will remain.

Listen to the sounds of your body: 

When you’re preoccupied with events from the outside world, you can get disconnected from one of your strongest sources of grounding and power - your body. Getting in touch with your body can take many forms, and sound can be a valuable lens for this exercise. First, sit in a chair or lay down in bed and cover your ears with your hands. Take deep breaths. Notice the sounds of your body: your heart beating, the rushing sound in your ears. Experiment with breathing through different pathways of your body. Hear your breath in your nose, your throat, and your mouth. Now, start humming a song you like. Feel the vibration of your vocal chords through your head, hands, and chest. Freestyle a little and see how different tones of humming vibrate differently in your body. Take a few more deep breaths and notice your heart rate. Continue deep breathing until your heart rate slows a little. Take your hands off your ears and listen to the ambient sounds from your room or from the street. Recognize that there is an outside of you and an inside of you, and when the outside doesn’t feel safe, you can tap into your body’s sounds and find refuge on the inside.

Take a break from drinking and smoking for one night:

This one is hard too but it’s worth it. A lot of us use self-prescribed mood altering substances to reduce stress and boost our mood. After a long day of terrifying news seeking refuge in a chemical bubble makes sense. The sad thing is that this refuge is temporary, and if we rely on it too much, we get stuck. There’s plenty of research showing that the temporary boost we get from drinking alcohol or smoking marajuana leads to a kind of crash afterwards that makes us less able to cope with reality.

Think back to the last time you went out with friends to forget about an ex, a lost job, or just the state of the world. You may have let off some steam and temporarily felt better after venting or crying or bad mouthing whoever is causing you pain. The next day, how did you feel?  We’re guessing not great. Healing doesn’t happen overnight, and substances like weed and liquor only provide a temporary distraction. Once the effects wear off, you’re still there with the problems from yesterday, but now you’re hungover. You need to give your mind and body sober time to actually digest events, emotions, and ideas that might crowd around you in the wake of a national tragedy.

If facing a night alone without a comforting substance feels daunting, here’s a few things you can do to prepare yourself. Tidy your house a little so your environment promotes serenity. Candles and/or sage and palo santo can help set the mood. Make sure you exercise at some point during the day to flush out anxiety and discomfort. Spend extra time on your self care routine afterwards. Get your favorite food, make a refreshing non-alcoholic beverage or brew some tea. If alcohol is your favorite relaxer, make sure you have something sweet to nibble on since skipping that glass of wine or cocktail leaves your body craving sugar. Do a quick meditation tape or yoga video. If you lose interest, don’t try to force yourself to finish or judge yourself for drifting away. Allow yourself to move from activity to activity without judgment.

If you find yourself getting antsy without your accustomed substance, that’s a great time to journal. Try a brain dump of everything you’re thinking as you crave a drink or a hit and really notice what the feelings are under the anxiety. Those are the feelings you are uncomfortable processing without a self-prescribed medication. The thing is, you are capable of tolerating a lot more discomfort than you think, and until you try to do so without chemical help, you won’t realize how strong and resilient you truly are. Take one night off from your favorite mood altering substances and give yourself a little more grounding to tolerate the insane things happening in our world right now.

3. Practice mindfulness

Limiting media consumption and using sensory information to ground yourself are both forms of mindfulness, specifically to address psychic numbness from information overload. Expanding these practices to other areas of your life will help you balance your desire to stay informed and your capacity to care for yourself and others.

Be with the people around you:

When terrible things happen in our community, our country, or even across the world, our hearts go out to those impacted, and we may want to focus on sharing their story with the world, raising money, or donating to support victims and survivors. These are all important things to do, and great ways to turn your sorrow and fear into action. At the same time, you have family and friends around you who need your support, and who can support you. Don’t self-isolate when you’re dealing with traumatic events and news. Share how you’re feeling with someone in person, and invite them to share their thoughts with you. Check in with someone you haven’t spoken to in awhile and see how they’re doing. Get friends and family to join you in activism, fundraising, and awareness building in your community.

When you’re embedded in current events, you can start to feel powerless and isolated, especially in the face of all the world’s overlapping problems. In reality, you have transformative power in the lives of others, and your influence in your community matters. After a school shooting, it’s especially important to talk to young children and teenagers about what happened. They hear a lot from social and news media, and their developing brains absorb everything, good and bad. If there’s a young person in your life, whether they’re your child, your cousin, your sibling, or your student, take some time to check in with them. They don’t always excel at expressing themselves, but it makes a difference when a responsible person in their life lets them know that their thoughts and feelings matter, and that someone is there for them. It’s not necessary to talk to them about news or politics to get your point across. Share how you stay grounded when scary things happen, and remind them that they have so much to be excited for in their lives.

Move your body: 

The most frequently reported mental health impact of traumatic events and news is anxiety. Sitting still with anxiety can trap it and let it build in your body until you’re burned out. The best way to diffuse that energy is to raise your heart rate by moving your body. Walking, dancing, cleaning the house, running an errand, or literally running - all of this counts as exercise. All you have to do is go fast enough or long enough to break a sweat - then you can stop. From an evolutionary standpoint, anxiety’s purpose is to fuel movement, so you have to let it fulfill that purpose before it can let you go. A hot or cold shower afterwards plus a large hydrating drink will assist in physical and emotional regulation.

A study from the University of British Columbia observes that aerobic exercise (not resistance training, balance or muscle toning), aka exercise that makes you sweat and raises your heartrate, increases the size of the hippocampus, which is the part of your brain involved in learning and forming new memories. Adjusting to a traumatic situation, or processing traumatic news, requires our brains to make new connections and absorb difficult concepts and emotions. The hippocampus is closely involved in this process and will need all the help it can get.

Join a support group:

Our own problems are worth paying attention to and solving, but if we focus exclusively on them, we will get overwhelmed by them, and start to believe there’s nothing we can do. Connecting with others who might face the same or similar problems can be a powerful catalyst for personal growth. In the case of mass shootings in public places, some surveys report that one third of American adults now avoid public places out of fear of an attack. It makes sense considering the random and deadly nature of these acts, but this disconnects us from a major source of support: fellowship.

Fellowship has a lot of meanings but in the context of group therapy, it refers to the feeling of belonging among a group of strangers over a point of common connection. If you’re a happy member of a faith community, you may get fellowship from walking into your place of worship and greeting everyone gathered there. If you’re connected to some kind of affinity group like an activist organization, an alumni group, or even a gaming community, you may experience fellowship in that setting. In a setting that promotes fellowship, you can feel safe to express your emotions, interested in how others feel, and generally just at ease to be in the company of people who know you well enough to support you, but not to judge you.

This experience, even if it’s limited to a single space or group, is valuable for us as human beings. Random violence against vulnerable people like a school shooting might erode our faith in humanity, our belief that people are inherently good and will react with compassion if we’re in need. Joining a support group or other form of fellowship restores our belief that we have more friends than we can see, and that we can turn to others for help when we don’t feel like we have it together. We need that more than ever right now.

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Conclusion: Are school shootings a fact of life?

As alluded to in our opening, when bad things happen over and over again with no end in sight, we may feel like there’s nothing we can do and that random violence like a school shooting is just “a fact of life” we have to get used to. Acceptance is an important part of the coping process, but it doesn’t allow us to recognize the enormity of what’s happening on our school campuses. 

School shootings are not normal, they will never be normal, and every time they occur we suffer as a nation. 

Connecting with one another is crucial in these difficult times. Whether you join a support group, practice mindfulness, or seek counseling from a therapist for persistent anxiety and depression in the aftermath of a school shooting, don’t go through this alone, especially not online. Random violence leads us to question one another and our leaders as to how we can protect ourselves, and that’s important. In the process of protecting yourself, don’t cut yourself off from the resources you need to heal, or from friends and family who need your support. The only way we make it out of this is together.