‘That sense of threat is still there’: How to protect your mental health after seeing the police video of Tyre Nichols
footage of 29-year-old Tyre Nichols being beaten by police can have devastating effects on our mental health.
“Just by seeing these videos and seeing these pictures, your heart rate starts to go up, your breathing rate may start to increase, you may start to feel a little bit on edge or somewhat jumpy,” said Dr. Christine Crawford, associate medical director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness.
“It’s because of the stress response that is going through your system. … Ongoing stress happening in your body can lead to a number of chronic medical conditions.”
Those include high blood pressure and heart disease, both of which are particularly prevalent in Black and brown communities. So is the concern that authorities can do more harm than good.
Tyre Nichols killing shows that to some cops, even Black ones, Black lives don’t matterWhen the officers are Black: Tyre Nichols’ death raises tough questions about race in policing
E. Alison Holman, a nursing professor at UC Irvine whose studies over the past 30 years have focused on trauma and media exposure, says that even people who were not physically present at a traumatic event can exhibit acute stress symptoms for weeks afterward after watching graphic footage on social media or TV.
Why we need to talk more about the racial trauma of Black death.
“Build and cherish those relationships,” he said. “It’s important to not sit alone in your grief.”
Crawford says that grief isn’t just about loss of life but “the loss of what could have been.” When we see it over and over, it’s natural to imagine ourselves or a loved one in a similar situation. That anxiety can have a lasting influence because, she says, “that sense of threat is still there.”
“We all wonder, ‘What would we have done in that moment?'” Crawford said. “It certainly reminds people of color that they are vulnerable in this world, and that their safety cannot always be guaranteed.”
So when you do engage in discussions about Tyre Nichols, Grinage said, lead with the compassionate way he lived –a love of skateboarding, his role as a dad and his joy for taking pictures of the sunset – and not the inhumane way he died.Â
Tyre Nichols remembered as ‘likable, joyful’
Watch:Black skateboarders in Memphis and beyond honor Tyre Nichols: ‘We’ve lost one of our own’