How to move forward from MSU mass shooting amid the trauma

Michigan State University students will return to classes on Monday, a week after a gunman opened fire on campus, killing three students and critically wounding five others. Whether they were in Berkey Hall or barricaded in a dorm room for hours afterward, the shooting was a traumatic event felt by the entire campus, experts agree.

There is no set timeline for how long it will take students to recover from the trauma, but most will get better over time, experts say.

"They've just lived through an extraordinary trauma," said Bill Sanders, an MSU Medical School alumni and chief medical officer of Grand Rapids-based Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Services. "The good news is ... with a trauma diagnosis the vast majority of people get better, they get a lot better."

Critical, trauma experts say, is for students to know the symptoms to look out for, avoid isolation and feel comfortable seeking help. Everyone will respond differently to the shooting, Sanders said.

Pine Rest has been working with MSU and the school's Counseling and Psychiatric Services since Tuesday to offer the community group and individual crisis counseling services.

The suspected gunman, a 43-year-old Lansing man, went to MSU's campus and began his rampage at Berkey Hall shortly after 8 p.m. before moving to the student union, police said. Police found him shortly after midnight Tuesday, hours later, dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Not everybody is equally traumatized by such events, said Sandra Graham-Bermann, a professor of psychology and psychiatry at the University of Michigan. The friends and families of the victims, the students who escaped from Berkey Hall and the Union and students in hiding across campus would have different experiences.

"There were various levels of exposure ... it really affects not just the individuals but the people that care about them as well," Graham-Bermann said.

Symptoms of trauma

Some students may react to the shooting immediately; for others, it might take days or weeks, Sanders said.

"Individuals that are traumatized and are really experiencing symptoms right away, they'll have trouble sleeping, they'll have anxiety, they'll have heart palpitations, they might have some GI distress, they might be feeling just symptoms of being surreal, feeling like they can't talk to you," Sanders said. "They might feel just kind of down with low energy."

Nightmares and anxiety and exhibiting extra vigilance in public are other immediate symptoms, Graham-Bermann said.

"Those are symptoms of trauma that protect us," she said. "One of the ways you protect yourself after that is to be sure you're safe and look around all the time."

Emotions from anger to denial, grief and sadness also are common, and students may cycle between all of them, Sanders said.

"If you're recognizing a friend or a colleague or somebody who's struggling with that, it's also really good to reach out to them," Sanders said. "Ask them how they're doing or invite them out for coffee or to eat or for a walk."

MSU students will never forget what happened but most will slowly be able to address the trauma and move on, Graham-Bermann said. If the symptoms continue to disrupt a student's everyday live after a month, they likely need more support and should seek additional help, she added.

"If you have a nightmare, that happens," Graham-Bermann said. "But if it's such that you can't sleep enough with it, you're so anxious to be around people who you don't want to be around, you can't go back to school, you're so hyper vigilant you have trouble paying attention ... those are the signals that say this person needs more help."

Advice for coping and moving forward

Students feeling anxious or stressed could begin using inappropriate coping mechanisms like drinking alcohol and isolating themselves, Sanders said. Isolation is especially harmful because people are more prone to negative thoughts when they are alone, he said. The university setting helps combat isolation since students with common experiences can connect more easily.

"In a situation like this, you can feel like it just happened and you didn't have any control over it," Sanders said. "Then, when you talk to other people, you start feeling like maybe there are things I can do to feel better. Maybe there are things I can do to help change the situation or move forward."

Allowing students to talk and process the shooting together, supporting people taking time off and lowering the barriers to accessing behavioral and mental health resources will help the MSU community get through the trauma, Sanders said.

Classes and activities at MSU have been cancelled until Monday, but students and community members gathered on campus Wednesday evening for a vigil for the three victims, Brian Fraser of Grosse Pointe, Arielle Anderson of Harper Woods and Alexandra Verner of Clawson.

"The students need to be together to be able to make sense of it, to talk about it," Graham-Bermann said. "In a way, everybody gets sent home, and that's an important thing to do right away ... but what they really need is to be with their peers to talk about what happened."

That why Natalie Liening, a senior at MSU, attended a vigil Wednesday night at Grosse Pointe United Methodist Church. Liening of Grosse Pointe Park said she came home to find comfort in the familiar after the campus became a place that “felt so scary.”

“I’m here for the sense of community,” she said of the gathering at the Grosse Pointe Farms church. “I think a lot of people want to be around others right now.”

Many students spent hours on lockdown while the gunman remained at large, listening to police scanners and social media reports of the incident. Readily accessible information can help people feel safe but if survivors keep thinking about traumatic events, it can feel as if they are reliving them, Sanders said. Constant exposure to the news through social media platforms can be a double-edged sword.

"If they're reliving it over and over, they're feeling traumatized by it," Sanders said. "So sometimes turning off the TV, turning off the scanner, turning off the social media, connecting with a friend or colleague and doing something positive ... can be really helpful."

Survivors should try to be active and connect with friends or colleagues, Sanders said. Engaging in hobbies and activities that bring them joy and staying physically active also can be helpful.

"Trying to get back to a sense of normalcy in some way can be very helpful," Sanders said. "... You also want to make sure to validate that they've just lived through an extraordinary trauma."

Feeling safe on campus again

A sense of feeling safe will return, but survivors of trauma can't force themselves to feel better, Sanders said. Focusing on the positive aspects of being on campus and things they're looking forward to can be helpful.

Sanders said leaders and others "definitely wouldn't want to force anybody to go into a situation where they don't feel safe or how it could retraumatize that or trigger them."

"Some students probably won't even know if they feel safe or not until they actually get back to the campus or that setting," Sanders said.

Prabu David, dean of MSU's College of Communication, Arts and Sciences, said while classes are set to resume Monday, his college is considering hybrid and alternative options because some students may not be able to concentrate. Many department chairs are offering listening sessions to students. “People ... can't just go through something like this alone, you need community in every way possible. We’re trying to foster that," David said. “Our heart goes out to Brian, Arielle, Alexandria and their families but we cannot let this define us. we have to move forward and do better than this.”

Where to find help virtually and on campus

Daily in-person crisis counseling locations and times for students, faculty, staff and community on campus can be found here.

Virtual and in-person listening spaces for students, faculty and staff are available until Thursday. Locations can be found here.

Spartan Resilience Training Program is offering "reflect and connect" sessions until Thursday for MSU faculty, staff and graduate students. Register here.

24/7 crisis counseling is available for students. Call (517) 355-8270 and press 1.

hmackay@detroitnews.com

Detroit News online producer Jakkar Aimery contributed.