Michigan State University students will return to classes on Monday, a week after a gunman opened fire on campus, killing three students and critically wounding five others. Whether they were in Berkey Hall or barricaded in a dorm room for hours afterward, the shooting was a traumatic event felt by the entire campus, experts agree.
There is no set timeline for how long it will take students to recover from the trauma, but most will get better over time, experts say.
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Not everybody is equally traumatized by such events, said Sandra Graham-Bermann, a professor of psychology and psychiatry at the University of Michigan. The friends and families of the victims, the students who escaped from Berkey Hall and the Union and students in hiding across campus would have different experiences.
"There were various levels of exposure ... it really affects not just the individuals but the people that care about them as well," Graham-Bermann said.
