What’s Psychic Numbing Got to Do with Me?

What Is Psychic Numbing?

Have you ever scrolled through your social media feed, seen a tragic news story, and quickly swiped past without feeling much of anything or considering what you might do to help? Or perhaps you have noticed that the more stories you see about suffering, the more overwhelmed you become and the harder it becomes to truly feel sad or care deeply about each event? There’s a reason for this. Psychologists call it “psychic numbing.”

Paul Slovic, a researcher who studies how humans react emotionally to crises, explains psychic numbing as the tendency to feel less compassion when large numbers of people suffer compared to how we feel when we see one person suffer. As he puts it, “Reported numbers of deaths represent dry statistics, ‘human beings with the tears dried off,’ that fail to spark emotion or feeling and thus fail to motivate action.” ¹ For this reason, psychic numbing can cause unintended harm; not only does it hinder our ability to feel compassion, but it also prohibits us from recognizing that we have the ability—or agency—to make meaningful change in the world.

How Does Psychic Numbing Show Up in Our Lives?

In today’s world, most people have easy access to streams of distressing news: war, violent crime, natural disasters, and pandemics like COVID-19. This constant exposure can overwhelm your brain’s ability to process the types of emotions that these events often stir up. ² Researchers suggest that your brain naturally limits how much emotional pain it allows you to feel in order to protect you from being overwhelmed. ³

For teenagers, psychic numbing can feel especially complicated. Adolescent brains are still developing, particularly the areas responsible for emotional engagement and empathy. This means that deeply understanding others’ feelings takes extra effort and intentionality. ⁴ When you encounter emotionally intense content—like when you see a traumatic event posted on social media, or learn about the Holocaust or other historical tragedies in school—psychic numbing can make it difficult to connect, empathize, and fully grasp the level of human suffering.

How to Reduce the Impact of Psychic Numbing

Why is it important to understand psychic numbing? Recognizing this phenomenon helps you become aware of your emotional reactions and be better equipped to overcome barriers to empathy. Empathy, which is the ability to understand and share the feelings of others, is an important skill that can be honed through practice. This skill can help you build stronger relationships and empower you to take action in response to the problems you care about.

Psychic numbing is not inherently bad. It is a protective response that helps us manage overwhelming emotions in the face of large-scale suffering. Sometimes it allows us to get through the day. And sometimes, we may want or need to break through that numbness in order to reconnect with our empathy and sense of purpose. It’s important to remember that you don’t have to feel everything, all the time, to be a caring person. You can acknowledge your limits, protect yourself from emotional exhaustion, and still allow enough feeling to stay present and engaged with the issues that matter most to you. 

As you work to find a balanced space that supports emotional resilience without leading to numbing or detachment, there are some practices that can reduce the impact of psychic numbing and support your capacity for empathy and action. 

For starters, Slovic’s research shows that individual stories have the power to inspire deep empathy. Instead of focusing solely on statistics or numbers, engaging with the stories of real people that highlight their experiences, hopes, and challenges will help to increase a capacity for empathy and response. Further, activities such as journaling or reflective discussions can help you process your emotions both individually and with others. Developing an intentional practice of slowing down and thoughtfully considering our thought patterns and behaviors also improves emotional regulation and empathy. ⁵

It is important to recognize that feeling powerless can contribute to psychic numbing, and psychic numbing can make us feel powerless. It can become a kind of “vicious cycle.” Therefore, finding ways to take meaningful action, like participating in community service, advocating for change in your school, or supporting causes that you value, can help break through the effects of psychic numbing and reinforce empathy. ⁶

To be clear, understanding psychic numbing doesn’t mean you’ll never feel overwhelmed again. Instead, it provides a window into a common human behavior that prohibits us from acting or standing up when it is important to do so. This awareness is the first step to developing tools and strategies that can help mitigate psychic numbing—tools to help you stay connected, compassionate, and proactive in a complex and challenging world. 

Connection Questions

1. What are your initial reactions to the reading?
2. According to this reading, what is psychic numbing, and why do researchers believe we experience it? 
3. How does this reading extend, connect to, or challenge what you learned from Nicholas Kristof’s video clip on psychic numbing?
4. In what ways can building empathy help reduce psychic numbing? 
5. According to the text, why might reading and deeply engaging with one person’s story help reduce psychic numbing and increase empathy?
6. Based on what you have learned, what are some practical tools or strategies for counteracting or minimizing numbness? Can you think of other strategies that are not named here?

Teach a Facing History lesson featuring this resource.

• 1Paul Slovic, “‘If I look at the mass I will never act’: Psychic numbing and genocide,” Judgment and Decision Making 2, Issue 2 (2007): 79–95, doi:10.1017/S1930297500000061. 
   
• 2Delia O’Hara, “Paul Slovic observes the ‘psychic numbing’ of COVID-19,” American Psychological Association, November 30, 2020.
• 3Amy Arnsten, Carolyn Mazure, and Rajita Sinha, “Everyday Stress Can Shut Down the Brain’s Chief Command Center,” Scientific American, April 1, 2012, 48–53.
• 4Eun Jin Kim, Jung-Woo Son, et al., “Cognitive and Emotional Empathy in Young Adolescents: An fMRI Study,” Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 31 (3), July 1, 2020, National Institutes of Health PubMed Central open access, doi: 10.5765/jkacap.200020.
• 5Michele DeMarco, “Compassion Is More Than Niceness: The New Science on Human Goodness,” Psychology Today, July 1, 2023.
• 6Slovic, “‘If I look at the mass I will never act,’”, 79–95.