305 | Doomscrolling: Media Trauma and Faith-based Treatment Interventions

Doomscrolling, the compulsive consumption of distressing online content, has emerged as a significant behavioral concern, particularly post-COVID-19. With constant access to local, national, and global news, individuals experience heightened emotional reactivity, obsessive thought patterns, and increased social isolation. Doomscrolling functions as a maladaptive coping mechanism reinforced by negative emotional stimuli, affecting individuals across all age groups. This session explores doomscrolling as a media-specific trauma response, characterized by a fear/freeze/crave cycle. It examines its role as a co-occurring factor in grief, loss, avoidance, depersonalization, and derealization disorders. Participants will review Sharma, Lee, and Johnson’s (2022) Doomscrolling Scales, which assess personality traits related to scrolling behaviors. Additionally, the session presents faith-based interventions for willing Christian clients within Seligman’s (2018) PERMA Model (Positive Emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, Accomplishment) to enhance discernment and resilience in media-induced distress. This presentation provides psychologists and licensed mental health professionals with evidence-based strategies for assessing and treating doomscrolling behaviors within a trauma-informed framework.