BONUS - Coping With The Psychological Aftermath of The Collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore
Public Health On Call
The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
4.6 • 644 Ratings
🗓️ 9 April 2024
⏱️ 15 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On March 26, Baltimore's iconic Francis Scott Key Bridge was hit by a cargo ship and collapsed, killing six people. Since then, many have found themselves watching endless loops of the video and ongoing coverage, and some are feeling symptoms of anxiety or even intense fear. Dr. George Everly, a Johns Hopkins psychologist, talks with Stephanie Desmon about the phenomenon of "psychological contagion" and how something so rare but so spectacular can suddenly make us question our sense of safety. They also discuss how to talk to kids about events like these and what to do when healthy curiosity becomes problematic. Read Dr. Everly's Psychology Today piece here: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/when-disaster-strikes-inside-disaster-psychology/202403/the-dangers-of-the-baltimore-bridge
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Public Health On Call, a podcast from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, |
| 0:05.9 | where we bring evidence, experience, and perspective to make sense of today's leading health challenges. |
| 0:16.3 | If you have questions or ideas for us, please send an email to public health question at jhhhu.edu. |
| 0:23.8 | That's public health question at jhhu.edu for future podcast episodes. |
| 0:34.7 | This is Lindsay Smith Rogers. |
| 0:39.3 | The mind-boggling collapse of the Francis Scott Keybridge in Baltimore has been replayed over and over on CNN and social media since it was hit by a ship on March 26th. |
| 0:49.9 | Beyond the terrible loss of life, many people have become more anxious and fearful after the disappearance of what was supposed to be a permanent structure on the city's skyline. |
| 1:01.0 | Johns Hopkins psychologist Dr. George Everley talks to Stephanie Desmond about how to help ourselves and our children cope with the after effects. |
| 1:10.2 | Let's listen. |
| 1:11.6 | George Everley, thanks so much for joining me. |
| 1:15.1 | Well, thank you for the invitation. |
| 1:17.3 | So a really freak thing happened on March 26th. The key bridge in Baltimore collapsed |
| 1:24.4 | after being hit by a cargo ship that lost power. |
| 1:31.2 | And for those of us who live near the 1.6 mile span, |
| 1:34.4 | and those who saw the video on CNN or social media, |
| 1:37.2 | it's definitely an image that's been sticking with us. |
| 1:41.7 | And I'm wondering, you know, what kind of reactions are we having? |
| 1:45.9 | You know, why are we suddenly thinking a lot about bridges? |
| 1:55.6 | Well, it was spectacular, wasn't it? And seldom do we have that kind of video record, which you see it happening before you. You normally see it after it's happened. |
| 2:03.6 | So it's unusual, it's spectacular. |
| 2:07.6 | We have an in-detail video record. |
| 2:11.6 | But for those of us in the Maryland area, |
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