The study showed that distressing footage of violent images following terrorist attacks and from war zones led to an increase in physical and psychological ailments among a cross-section of American viewers.
Researchers from UC Irvine said the study sheds light on the lingering effects 'collective traumas' can have when a population is fed a steady diet of graphic media images, the 'Daily Mail' reported.
"I would not advocate restricting nor censoring war images for the psychological well-being of the public," said study leader Roxane Cohen Silver.
"Instead, I think it's important for people to be aware that there is no psychological benefit to repeated exposure to graphic images of horror," Silver said.
The study included assessments of more than 1,000 participants' health in the weeks before and after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001 and the initiation of the Iraq war in 2003.
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It also looked at their media exposure and acute stress responses.
Researchers found people who watched more than four hours a day of 9/11 and Iraq War-related television coverage were more likely to report both acute and post-traumatic stress symptoms over time.
They were also more likely to report doctor-diagnosed physical health ailments two to three years later.
Watching two particular kinds of images in the early days of the Iraq War was associated with post-traumatic stress symptoms over time: soldiers engaged in battle and dead US and allied soldiers.
"The results suggest that exposure to graphic media images may be an important mechanism through which the impact of collective trauma is dispersed widely," Silver says.
The study was published in the journal 'Psychological Science'.