Phenomenally traumatic. That is how a psychologist is describing the impact of graphic videos and pictures of victims of tragedies on families and friends.
Pastor Anderson Kellman told the Sunday Sun the images were difficult on families, who, “out of the blue see a picture appear on their smartphone of a loved one in a mangled state or however the body is presented”.
“I think that that is phenomenally traumatic, and it has potential to create prolonged suffering in terms of the grieving process. It’s a sudden loss to start with, and then in terms of the first picture of the body; not only that the person is dead but then how the body is presented is a picture in the traumatisation,” he explained.
Kellman credits the investigating officers in a lot of these cases for the sensitivity they show towards the families, by trying to position the bodies in the best possible way before they allow it to be viewed. (YB)
Please read the full story in today’s Sunday Sun, or in the eNATION edition.
