By Lauren Keating

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It starts with one social media video, where a content creator discusses a specific allegation based on a document released in the Epstein files. Then you view another video, click on another post, and read another file. Before you know it, you are deep down the rabbit hole. As much as you want to claw your way out, you can’t stop your curiosity about what exactly was really going on in these elite circles. 
    While many are aware of certain allegations in these files, the latest batch of files released features increasingly graphic and disturbing content. Your doom scrolling leaves you reeling with dread, a pit growing in your stomach, and a sour taste in your mouth. It can even leave you with nightmares—or worse, feeling numb to horrific details—which is your nervous system's response to protect you from the psychological horror. Your brain is hijacked, and you can’t look away, even though it’s hurting you. 
    “Doomscrolling isn't a lack of discipline; it is a nervous system desperately trying to gather enough data to feel safe, but getting continually re-traumatized instead,” Joel Blackstock, a clinical social worker and the Clinical Director of Taproot Therapy Collective, said. 

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It all becomes too much. You can’t sleep and feel sick learning certain information, and can’t decipher what is fact from fiction, what and who to believe, and how much is still so unknown. 
   “What we are actually witnessing is a mass, global triggering of the human survival response, and it is having a profound impact, especially on survivors of abuse,” Blackstock said. 
    You have no choice but to stop reading and hearing about the Epstein files for your mental health. 
    What’s interesting is that the method in which the Epstein files are being released, the social media account The Mamattorney, trial lawyer Daphne Delvaux wrote in a Facebook post, is “deliberately designed to put you in a psychological trance.” 

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In trials that include evidence involving violence, children, or extreme harm, the judge guides the process regarding what and how the sensitive material is presented. Experts are used to help provide the content, and as a result, there is a structured system in place so that the jury is able to process this content in a responsible way. 
    This is a psychological tactic used in court known as the Reptile Theory. When people are presented with graphic and disturbing content, the primal or “reptile” part of the brain, which is responsible for survival skills, is triggered. This can cause rage and obsession and is often used by lawyers to help sway an outcome. 
    “The reptile brain approach is meant to strike at a juror's most basic/primitive emotion—fear and safety— because that is the part of the brain that provides both safety and comfort to humans,” California-based attorney Alan Heimlich said. The goal of using this approach is to convince jurors that defendants are a danger to their personal safety or to the safety of society as a whole.” 
    While this tactic is used in court to protect the jury, there is also a link to how the Epstein files were released and this strategy. 

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“The release of the Epstein files triggers the same primal fear response. The shock value

of the images presented in the files, along with the heinous nature of the acts reported in those files, will motivate individuals to feel outrage and fear in a manner similar to how the reptile brain method motivates people to experience those emotions,” Heimlich said. “When you stimulate that type of emotion, it will have an impact on how people perceive the criminal

charges against Epstein, and ultimately, it will affect both public perception and the outcome

of the case in court.” 

   Along with the emotional shock, attorney Edward Hones said the files also touch a moral chord among the public. “People have also connected the files with world leaders, concluding that they are abusing power, causing corruption, and manipulating society,” he said. “Every person around the world is feeling like a target of the Epstein files. This is exactly what the reptile brain tactic does in court.” 

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While we can agree that if the allegations are true, heinous acts were committed, without having the information contained like a jury in court, it’s easy to spiral. The reptile brain tactic can protect the jury, not the perpetrator in court, but the opposite can be true when using this theory for the Epstein file release. 
    With so many documents released with no guidance, order, or categorization, plus with retracted information, the public is left to decipher and make sense of it all.  
   “When people consume graphic, disturbing material from major investigative documents, their brain does not neatly file it away as ‘news.’ The amygdala, our brain's threat-detection center, processes this information as an immediate environmental danger. It floods the body with cortisol and adrenaline, throwing the reader into sympathetic arousal, or fight-or-flight,” said Blackstock, who studies the psychological impact of media consumption entirely through the lens of neurobiology. 
    It causes you to become obsessed with consuming the content to dive deeper for answers and more truths until you are so burnt out that you cannot process or cope and are left mentally exhausted. You stop demanding answers, give up, and perpetrators go unpunished. Social personality Daphne Delvaux calls it “psychological guerrilla warfare.” 
 

It is survivors of abuse that have the most devastating psychological impact of the Epstein files. “Many victims go through grueling therapy to undo the gaslighting of their abusers. They are told by therapists, law enforcement, and society that what happened to them was not okay, that the secret was the poison, and that if they bring it to the light, society will protect them and hold the abusers accountable,” Blackstock said. “But when these files drop, and survivors see that the most powerful people in the world are implicated, and that the global machine just keeps running without mass public trials or real accountability, it causes a catastrophic moral injury.” 
   Not only is the material a trigger, but it also threatens survivors to remain quiet after seeing the political power and billionaire wealth hold more than the safety of women and children. “As clinicians, we have to loudly validate this horrific reality for survivors,” he said.  “We cannot CBT our way out of institutional betrayal. We have to acknowledge that their despair is a completely sane, biologically correct response to a society that refuses to hold its most powerful predators accountable.” 

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​Reading the Epstein Files?

Here’s How to Protect Your Mental Health And Cope With Disturbing Content 
“Coping with the ambiguity of these documents—knowing we may never see the full truth—is incredibly difficult because the human brain hates predictive error,” Blackstock said. “Not knowing the full extent of a threat feels biologically dangerous. But trying to logic your way into certainty by reading one more email won't work. You have to manually signal safety to your body and accept that while you cannot control the global narrative, you can control your immediate, physical environment.” 

    ​It's important to take control over when, how, and for how the graphic content of the Epstein files are viewed, “People can stay informed without overwhelming themselves, but it requires intentional limits,” mental health therapist Kirsti Reese said. “Limit exposure to negatives, create predictable times to check the news, and make sure there are breaks for regulation and connection throughout the day.” 
   As a trauma therapist who has worked with survivors of human trafficking, child abuse cases, and violence against women, Reese said it’s important to step away from the TV or put down the phone if the content is making you feel worse. Set a boundary of 20-minutes dedicated to consuming news instead of endless scrolling. 
   Try to calm the nervous system when in a stressed state from repeated exposure.

“Our nervous systems are designed to cycle, and constant pressure without recovery keeps the stress response activated without opportunity for regulation,” she said. “Regulating and calming the nervous system during a crisis is one of the most important measures we can take to manage stress.” 
  This includes taking small breaks, such as exercising, breaking exercises, or connecting with others. “Our brains are deeply wired for relationships, and connection is one of the main ways human beings regulate.” 
   Limit news platforms. Instead of watching videos, try to stick to reading about it in a news article. “Our brain would rather know something bad is definitely going to happen than be stuck with uncertainty, which is why people can feel pulled to keep scrolling even when the information is upsetting.” 
   Talk about the emotions felt when consuming the graphic content and seek professional support if triggered. Stick to trusted sources. TikTok creators may have opinions, not facts. Separate what is confirmed from what is still being investigated. 
   To deal with the unknown behind the files—if certain disturbing allegations are true, if justice will ever be served, if names will ever be redacted—accept that you may not have all the answers right away or ever. Stay informed, but know when to keep your mental stability a priority. 

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