In this podcast we explore the psychological toll of consuming distressing news, particularly coverage of the war in Gaza. Jason Brown and deputy editor of Consortium News Corinna Barnard with clinical psychologist Dr. Renee McCormick — examine how relentless exposure to traumatic news affects mental health.

Dr. McCormick draws on research from the American Psychological Association (APA), other research groups and her own experience as a trauma therapist to explain phenomena like secondary traumatic stress, doomscrolling, desensitization, and the “window of tolerance” — the psychological zone in which a person can process information without becoming overwhelmed or shutting down entirely. She notes that people respond to overload in one of two directions: hyperarousal (anxiety, anger, obsessive consumption) or underarousal (numbness, avoidance, apathy).