Editor's note: Deepak Chopra
is the founder of the Chopra Foundation and the author of more than 70
books. He is a fellow of the American College of Physicians, a member of
the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists and adjunct
professor of executive programs at the Kellogg School of Management at
Northwestern University, among other posts.
(CNN) -- Two reactions seize people in the face of a horrific event like the mass murder of little children in Newtown, Connecticut. The first is shock, the second is a rush into activity.
The reason we rush into
activity is to escape the numbness of shock and the pain that follows
it. But if we bury ourselves in every detail of the story, staying glued
to the TV, reliving the event in our imaginations and obsessing over
the meaningless of violence, we may be working against the healing
process rather than helping it.
Medical science knows a
lot more about the effects of trauma on the brain than it did even five
years ago. One salient point is that post-traumatic stress disorder, or
PTSD, affects not just the immediate victims of violence, whether in war
or the result of crime, but also bystanders and witnesses.
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