Fear of war: How Bay Area residents are coping amid Ukraine-Russia war
WALNUT CREEK, Calif. (KGO) -- The barrage of images in the news and on social media can be alarming and even overwhelming.
Fear of war. It was years of apprehension for those on the homefront in WWII. Now again, fear of war is spreading beyond Ukraine. A heart-wrenching humanitarian crisis we're watching in real time.
"People are really scared and really angry when they see images of people being hurt, of children being hurt, of cities being destroyed," clinical psychologist Andrea Zorbas said. "It's ominous and overwhelming and how do we handle it?
Moe Ansari, a business owner in Walnut Creek added, "We just came out of the COVID situation and thought everything would be ok. And here we go. I'm really concerned. I've never been so concerned about our future like right now. Cause things are going crazy too fast."
VIDEO: Ukrainian woman 39 weeks pregnant hides in bomb shelter
Walnut Creek resident Shelli Dorf said she gets emotionally upset every day now because of Putin.
"I feel he might use nuclear weapons," Dorf said.
Suzanne Warren, who protested during the Vietnam War, adds, "Zolensky is a real hero. I mean, he's like Superman and we're going to watch him be slaughtered. So it's very surreal for me."
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With her cellphone in hand, Lizvet Chavez admitted, "It is scary. All I know is based off social media and it is scary there could possibly be a world war."
Zorbas notes, "It's hard not to doom scroll and check it all the time because there are updates every second. So that makes it more challenging than previously before social media."
What to do about the fear of war? Zorbas said do what you can to support Ukraine, but do what you need to do to maintain your mental health.
Take a look at the latest updates on the Ukraine-Russia war.
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