Life can feel like a slot machine. If you never win, you lose interest. If you always win, it’s no longer exciting. If you win at random, it keeps you alert and on edge, which is an exciting state of mind, and even an addictive one. The randomness of a payback is what keeps people excited, so they keep playing. This is a basic scientific model of risk and reward, which keeps people playing games of chance, such as slot machines. It’s not knowing when you will win that keeps you engaged.
Terrorism is no game. It’s no fun. It’s not entertaining and those exposed to terrorism never win. They either lose or they “get lucky” and escape unharmed. There is a science to terrorism which focuses on what it is that keeps people terrified. Part of that science is when people do not know who is the intended target, where the act of terrorism will occur, and how often a terroristic act will occur. The sheer randomness of terrorism can make everyone perpetually scared.
If you do not know who is being targeted, anyone might be a target, and that is terrifying. For the gambler at the slot machine, that sense of randomness generates excitement: “Maybe I will win big this time!” For the targets of terror, that randomness generates another form of excitement, called anxiety. In the nervous system, positive arousal or excitement and negative arousal or anxiety travel along the same circuitry. The same systems in the brain and body get activated during high excitement as they do during high risk.
Throughout the history of warfare, when there are no formal armies and no set battlefields, the fear of ambush, guerilla attacks, or treachery from one’s midst creates a type of terror for the populace because no one knows who the enemy is, when he will strike, and how. Terrorists take advantage of the human psyche and its circuitry to keep their victims on edge. There is a science to terrorism which is now emerging as a contemporary “art” of terrorism. This is becoming more prevalent.
In recent times, Jewish people around the world have experienced a strong dose of terror. Unprovoked massacres, hostage taking, missiles and rockets, murders, random acts of violence, arson, and even protests and riots, these acts seem random and unpredictable. There are some theorists who hypothesize that all of these atrocities are linked and guided by the “hidden hand” of a terroristic regime or faction. Others theorize that each incident is perpetrated at random by individuals who have no connection to each other. Regardless of the source of the attacks (whether completely random and unrelated), they still terrorize and the idea that they are all orchestrated by a single common enemy only increases the sense of terror.
I have been consulting and working with victims and communities where terroristic acts have made their mark. I am also being contacted by individuals and communities where no attacks have occurred, but the people are anxious, worried, saddened, and afraid. The fear of being a target of terrorists, of being vulnerable and unprotected by society, creates fear and dread in people. Some no longer go out at night. Some are more careful about the neighborhoods through which they travel. Some fear allowing their children to play outdoors or even to go to school. Many are describing the eruption of stress symptoms in thought, feeling, body, and behavior. This is the new art of terrorism: a minimum of terroristic acts that create a maximum of psychological casualties. How then does one gain resilience?
One symptom of anxiety is hypervigilance, being on high alert much of the time. That symptom is self-protective in its core. Scanning the environment for danger does keep a person on their proverbial toes. It is one way our anxiety serves us so we can be mindful of our surroundings. When hypervigilance endures, however, people grow suspicious of one another. They become short-fused and irritable, and their anxiety radiates to the extent that they are in a state of tension. Some tools which can be useful are staying self-aware, identifying where the distress is based, i.e. in thought, emotion, or body, and talking about it with a trusted, caring confidante. It is normal to be anxious about unknown threats and risks. It is normal, under the elusive shadow of terror, to feel terrorized, but it is important to be mindful of your reactions and to express them appropriately. This helps create a sense of control over one’s feelings.
This Shabbos we will read about Yaakov’s apprehension regarding Esav’s band of 400 warriors that were closing in on him. He did not know what to expect and the Torah says that he was frightened and this distressed him. It is natural to feel frightened when one does not know what might happen. It also leads to additional distress because we cannot find a solution if the source of the problem is undefined. Our tradition is that Yaakov prepared to fight the enemy, to appease him, and to pray. We cannot fight a hidden enemy. We cannot appease those who hate us. However, we can draw on our faith and on our prayer. At times like this, our most reliable tool may well be our age-old faith and well-practiced prayers in addition to some common-sense vigilance. n
Rabbi Dr. Dovid Fox is a forensic and clinical psychologist, and director of Chai Lifeline Crisis Services. To contact Chai Lifeline’s 24-hour crisis helpline, call 855-3-CRISIS or email crisis@chailifeline.org. Learn more at www.chailifeline.org/crisis.
