Terrorism can be defined as any kind of violence used to achieve some political, religious or economic goals. Terrorists aim to achieve their goals by terrorizing and intimidating people in some way and, accordingly, by intimidating and intimidating them.
Terrorism can be explained and evaluated from many perspectives. The attitude of politicians, the factors that give rise to terrorism, the identity of terrorists, the types of terrorism, the effect of terrorism on the public, etc. In this article, I will try to explain the psychological effects it creates on the public and the reactions related to it.
As stated in the definition, the method used by terrorists to achieve their goals is to create an atmosphere of fear by terrorizing people with actions such as killing people, destroying property, and torturing. Accordingly, it is to push people into inaction through intimidation. Many games can be played on an inactive and intimidated people. While some individuals condemn themselves to inaction, fearing the uncertainty of what they will experience, some individuals reactively want to take revenge through terror. In both cases, healthy living conditions are lost.
One of the biggest factors that stress people is uncertainty and the development of events beyond the individual's control. People who constantly experience terrorist incidents around them try to live their lives with anxiety and fear, unaware of what will happen to them. When we look at it from this perspective, even if people are not exposed to terrorism, they are victims of terrorism due to the psychological impact it creates. In such a situation, general unrest prevails from the individual to the society. The situation is different for the terrorist. Because the terrorist is the planner of the action he commits and foresees the things that will happen to him.
Even if new events do not come to the fore after the terrorist incidents, the person can continue an anxious and fearful life due to the impact of previous events. Terrorist experiences experienced, witnessed and shared, even from afar, leave a traumatic effect on people. The psychological balance and life integrity of an individual who has experienced trauma may be disrupted. If we evaluate terrorism from this perspective, it can be seen as a social trauma and such a society may be deficient in the fight against terrorism. For this reason, terrorist acts are more likely to involve civilians and result in mass death. It is done in places that will cause distress and at times when social sensitivity is higher.
To summarize and adapt it to today's conditions, we have been in a social mourning process for a long time. The daily worries we experience along with this mourning process put us in a vicious circle in the fight against terrorism. I wanted to draw attention to another side of the event, with the reactions created by the psychological effects of terrorism in society, rather than what should be done in political terms. If we evaluate these, the importance of mental health in the fight against terrorism should be evaluated and a suitable environment should be provided to gain the trust of individuals in the society dominated by terrorism. If people are made aware of the negative emotions they experience, they become stronger in coping with negative situations. Thus, societies with combative individuals who take steps to cope, rather than individuals who accept what happens to them with inertia, will be advantageous in the fight against terrorism.
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