Mental health workers say Americans are becoming numb to violence after mass shootings

ORLANDO, Fla. — There have been nearly 150 mass shootings this year, according to the Gun Violence Archives.

The organization considers an incident to be a mass shooting if at least four people are shot, not including the shooter.

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With this increasing number of shooting more people are becoming desensitized to this violence.

In Orlando, over the weekend, eight people were shot. Six of them were killed, including two children.

Channel 9 spoke with two mental health clinicians who said people are becoming numb to the violence going on.

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They’re seeing a lot of people who just in essence check out of what’s going on and it’s not because they don’t care.

Licensed psychotherapist Pernell Bush said feeling ‘normal’ or feeling desensitized doesn’t necessarily equate to apathy.

“What it means to me is there is a numbness, like having a callus, Pernell said. “I see that numbness as an individual having a callus to protect themselves,”

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Meanwhile, licensed mental health counselor Dwight Bain said the problem with so much violence is that our brains will go numb, and we just don’t want to think about it anymore.

Bain said the turnoff has major consequences

“You cannot solve violence with silence so as long as people say I don’t want to think about it, it guarantees certain problems with repeat behavior.”

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Bush said he tries to put it into perspective for many of his patients struggling.

“Finding ways to try to penetrate that callus and really get to that connection of emotion,” Bush said.

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