ATLANTA — The National Center for PTSD estimates 28% of people who’ve witnessed a mass shooting develop post-traumatic stress order. Best-selling author and board certified psychiatrist Dr. Dion Metzger tells 11Alive other people are often significantly affected by these tragedies as well, as they continue to take in a flood of information about mass shootings which seem to be becoming more racially-motivated.
Dr. Metzger shared regarding Saturday's mass shooting in Buffalo, "in this case, where we’re seeing certain ethnic groups targeted. It is absolutely traumatic.
Officials say the white 18-year-old accused of fatally shooting 10 people at the Tops grocery store researched the local demographics and showed up a day in advance to scope out the area, with the plan to kill as many Black people as possible.
Atlanta-based psychiatrist Dr. Metzger described the tragedy in New York as immediately taking her back to the local spa shooting rampage last year when the alleged gunman targeted people of Asian descent, leaving six women who worked at spas in Atlanta and Cherokee County dead, along with two others.
"I remember thinking the next morning what was it like for these people to get up and go to these places of work where this happened," she said.
Dr. Metzger shared in an interview with 11Alive that her experience as a Black woman informs how she processes her own emotions after tragedies fueled by racial hatred.
"Whether it’s my race or another race, there’s definitely a gut-wrenching reaction when we hear about people being hunted based on their race and shot and killed," she said.
As a mental health expert who says she's frequently asked to comment on mass shootings for various media outlets, Dr. Metzger cautions it's important to recognize people handle trauma differently.
The psychiatrist said that if someone's being quiet about a devastating event, that could be that person's way of processing things. Dr. Metzger also explained to 11Alive just how people process their pain and shared some warning signs that someone may need professional help.
A couple of those can include a person isolating more or staying inside and self-medicating, drinking more or using drugs.
"Very often when things like this happen and they're so scary, we want to numb ourselves to it," she said.
Dr. Metzger added that exposure to the images and videos of the tragedy, and the collective grief of communities, can be overwhelming. And she offered a piece of advice on dealing with that: "It's okay not to click."
"It's okay to avoid, it's okay to scroll past, just remembering that right now, especially within the week of it happening, protecting our peace is so very, very important," she said.