Are we getting used to terrorism?

January 7, 2015.This was the day when the Kouachi brothers attacked the editorial office of the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, killing twelve people. We remember the horror caused by this outburst of violence, the demonstrations throughout France, and the slogan "Je suis Charlie" "I am Charlie". This attack was unfortunately only the first of a tragic succession of violent events that shook France between 2015 and 2016. Just ten months later, the Paris attacks killed 130 people near the Stade de France, in the Bataclan concert hall and in several bars and restaurants in the capital. On July 14 of the following year, a lorry ploughed through the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, killing 84 people. In France, according to the Global Terrorism Database, 212 attacks were recorded between 2012 and 2018, killing 286 people and injuring 1,003 others. In comparison, between 2000 and 2011, a period almost twice as long, 242 attacks had caused the death of 8 people and injured 90.

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Using these three events, which were concentrated over a short period of time and affected the entire country, researchers Sylvie Blasco, Eva Moreno-Galbis and Jérémy Tanguy,in their research paper Getting used to terrorist threats? Evidence from French terrorist attacks between 2015 and 2016, tried to understand whether exposure to successive attacks leads populations to become accustomed to terrorist violence or whether, on the contrary, the impact on mental health worsens after each attack.

Depressive symptoms decline

Psychological research confirms that the effects of trauma on mental health decline when the individual is exposed to violent events several times. As these events occur, the body reduces the production of stress hormones. For the authors who have examined the issue, people who consciously continue to live in places that are at risk of hurricanes, floods or violent attacks demonstrate that the succession of disasters has only increased their resistance to stress. In psychology, this effect can be called habituation.