So what do you do if you receive a death threat?
First, it’s important to remember this point from J. Reid Meloy: “Most communicated threats are not acted upon.” But this doesn’t mean they should be brushed off. Lee said that, because a person can’t live under the stress of constant threats for long periods, getting yourself to a safe physical place ought to be a top priority.
Secondly, Meloy emphasized that if you receive a threat, you should contact the authorities and preserve any evidence. Screenshot the text or tweet; save the letter, email, or voicemail. While death threats are the subject of free-speech debates, and the standards for prosecution may vary from state to state, they’re generally not legal. (Meloy’s exact words were: “You can’t go around homicidally threatening people.”) Local authorities may also be able to help you understand how much actual risk a threat carries.
The other part of the equation is getting your life back—and your healthy mind, too. Online hate mobs are frequent enough that one journalist who has experienced them, Talia Lavin, produced a bookmark-worthy guide to weathering that kind of psychological storm. Experts also said that you should certainly consider reaching out to a mental health professional. Lee said that, since threats to one’s life can trigger dissociative reactions and potentially lead to lingering issues like memory loss, anxiety, or depression, “Having someone to speak to, preferably a mental health expert, would help to put things in perspective and to detect warning signs early."
Warren said that one of the keys to getting back to normal is drawing up and implementing safety precautions aimed at controlling that “What if?” thinking that can be so poisonous. “It’s that creation of uncertainty that gives your threatener power over you. Because the more you are sitting there thinking, ‘What if they do this? What if they do that?’ [then] the threat’s worked,” she said.
She also stressed the importance for threat recipients of remembering that what happened isn’t their fault. “You’ve had an act of violence committed against you and never, ever is it something that you’ve done wrong, that you deserve, that you had coming,” she said. “This is how another person has chosen to communicate.”