War in Iran, the psychiatrist: "Anxiety and risk of detachment due to 'overdose' of news are growing"

The conflict in Iran with Israel and the United States on the field and Tehran threatening "eternal consequences". "All this has a strong impact on people who have been in a state of alert since yesterday and are hungry for news, a need for information, which has struck me a lot. Young, adults and elderly, there is no difference: everyone wants to know what is happening to be reassured", underlines Claudio Mencacci , co-president of the Italian Society of Neuropsychopharmacology (Sinpf).

The need to be informed

"Younger people get their information via TikTok, adults choose Facebook, while the over-50s and the elderly prefer news from the news, newspapers and talk shows", analyzes the psychiatrist. And "obviously 'factions' are created. Young people, who notoriously gravitate towards the pacifist and environmentalist area, are mobilizing against the war. Among adults, however, in addition to the no-war there are also those who think 'this conflict does not concern me', 'it is happening far from my home'. Then there are the over-65s", who are the most anxious "for the internal security of our country and, obviously, fear for their children and grandchildren". The older you get, the greater the worries.

The economic aspect

"The generation that lived through the end of the Second World War, and that is now over 80, fears for their pensions, bills and health care, because war creates destabilization," observes the specialist. Men and women, he points out, also have different reactions when faced with live war, bombings and the nuclear threat: "Women are generally more anxious and sensitive, they have greater empathic participation towards the victims. This is why they are always in favor of a diplomatic solution that leads to peace, because they worry about protecting their loved ones, even from a psychological point of view."

More cynical and rational men

Instead, men "are more rational and cynical", for "some 'it's the usual war for oil', for others 'it's a duty to defend ourselves' for geopolitical reasons". It's good to stay informed, but for Mencacci there is the risk of "falling into excess information, into the so-called overload of news which, if the situation were to drag on over time as happened in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, could cause people to become emotionally detachable, a sort of anesthesia around what is happening, because in the end we also get used to war". Here is some advice: "Get informed through authoritative and verified sources, better if international, to avoid being gripped by anxiety and panic"; maintain "a minimum of empathy and solidarity towards the many victims, on both sides". For the psychiatrist "another underlying fear" that this international crisis can bring to the surface is "the threat of terrorism linked to the issue of immigration, a fear that affects men and women, without any distinction, apart from the most sensitive young people who are in favor of welcoming".