Laura Wilson, assistant professor of psychology

Assistant Professor of Psychology Laura Wilson was interviewed for an Associated Press article on how America has been transformed by mass shootings and the impact on survivors of these tragedies. The article was picked up by numerous media outlets, including the the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Colorado Public Radio, The Times-Herald, Times Union, Lowell Sun, KJCT8.com, KXNET.com and others. The article states,”Wilson, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Mary Washington in Virginia conducted a meta-analysis — an examination of data from 11 studies of PTSD symptoms among more than 8,000 participants who ranged from those who’d witnessed shootings to those who just lived in the communities in a 20-year period.”

https://www.richmond.com/news/virginia/ap/mass-shootings-transform-how-america-talks-prays-prepares/article_2741b9d6-c8ff-59e1-aa59-7e1939aba29a.html

https://www.cpr.org/news/story/mass-shootings-have-become-a-national-trauma-changing-the-way-we-talk-pray-and-prepare

https://www.news-herald.com/news/nation-world/mass-shootings-transform-how-america-talks-prays-prepares/article_e3f4e2c6-1279-5aa4-9da7-9450d82bfd4e.html

https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/America-transformed-by-mass-shootings-13917932.php

http://www.lowellsun.com/todaysheadlines/ci_32663805/mass-shootings-are-transforming-united-states

https://www.kjct8.com/content/news/Mass-shootings-create-rippling-network-of-stricken-survivors-510730261.html

https://www.kxnet.com/news/mass-shootings-create-rippling-network-of-stricken-survivors/2046945585

https://www.kjct8.com/content/news/Mass-shootings-create-rippling-network-of-stricken-survivors-510730261.html

https://www.kxan.com/news/national-news/mass-shootings-create-rippling-network-of-stricken-survivors/2046855136

Assistant Professor of Psychology Laura Wilson

Assistant Professor of Psychology Laura Wilson recently commented in the national media on the psychological effects on survivors of mass shootings.

Wilson, the co-author of the The Wiley Handbook of the Psychology of Mass Shootings, said the following to Buzzfeed News in an article entitled “If You Graduate Right After A Mass Shooting, Good Luck: You’re On Your Own”: “The biggest concern I would have for them is the disconnect from people who have gone through similar things.”

She also said, “Simply by definition, mass shootings are more likely to trigger difficulties with beliefs that most of us have, including that we live in a just world and that if we make good decisions, we’ll be safe,” in an article entitled “An Anniversary We Would All Like to Forget-But Never Will,” in the Post Newspaper in Texas.

In an article entitled “The Long Reach of Grief After Gun Violence” on yr.media, she said, “A lot of what we see among survivors is that they struggle to understand why they survived when others didn’t, because they made the same decisions everyone else made.” She explained that each survivor and their recovery is unique and cautioned against generalizing survivor experiences or regarding them as “typical.”