New Delhi: Continuous exposure to images of war brought live on the television
screen can affect the impressionable minds of children, besides giving sleepless
nights to thousands of people even miles away from the scene of war, psychologists
say.
The US-Iraq war may be nearly over, but the images of war remain in the minds of
people, especially children, and only positive and happy developments in the future
can erase these memories, they say.
"Some of the pictures and the suffering of the people of Iraq being shown on
television were really disturbing. Initially they upset people and gave them
sleepless nights, but prolonged exposure to all this has led to desensitising people
to violence," says Dr Monica Chibb, a psychologist with Apollo Hospital.
"Initially it was anger which directly affected the behaviour of people, but then
three weeks is enough time to raise the threshold for horror. To most, these things
don't affect anymore," says Dr Chibb.
"In fact, people are thrilled at the site of bombs and tanks. Because of continuous
violence and incidents of terrorism somewhere or the other, people have become
totally insensitive. Those sitting here are not bothered about what is happening in
Panipat...how far are they concerned over what is happening in Iraq or US," notes Dr
Sanjay Chugh, noted psychiatrist.
PTI
