PTSD in Journalists
A National Center for PTSD Fact Sheet
By Elisa E. Bolton, Ph.D.
Traumatic events encountered by journalists
Photo
and print journalists report on a variety of topics, from routine domestic
issues to unforeseen, highly disturbing events, such as car accidents,
homicide, natural disaster, famine, and war. As a result, some journalists find
themselves in situations in which their lives are threatened and they are
witness to significant human suffering.
It
has been assumed that journalists are not permanently impacted by the events
they cover. Exposure to the traumatic events they report on has been viewed as
within their job description and a standard hazard of the profession, similar to
an emergency room doctor or a firefighter. Many have viewed the journalists who
cover death and destruction as unusually tough, somehow immune to the
reverberating impact of the human suffering they witness. Until recently,
journalists felt that if they publicly acknowledged that reporting experiences
might affect them long-term, the journalist would be thought of as weak and
less capable than his or her colleagues.
In recent years there has been growing recognition that being a journalist, especially a war correspondent, can be quite dangerous. In 2001 alone, 100 journalists were killed.1 Organizations such as the DART Center, a research center for journalists, and other researchers are recognizing that in addition to the danger of death, journalists are exposed to the risk of great emotional distress.
Key studies
Freinkel, Koopman, and Spiegel2 assessed 18 journalists who witnessed and reported on an execution, a single-incident stressor. One month after the execution many of the journalists reported several short-term difficulties with dissociation, anxiety, and depression (e.g., a few days of increased tearfulness immediately following the event). However, none of the reporters endorsed severe or long-lasting psychological problems related to having witnessed the execution (i.e., distress lasting for more than a few days). Yet, Freinkel and colleagues noted that the journalists did experience distress following the execution even though (1) the journalists themselves were not at risk, (2) the event was socially sanctioned, and (3) the witnesses had time to psychologically prepare themselves.
McMahon3 and Pyevich, Newman, and Daleiden4 examined the impact that covering a variety of traumatic events had on journalists. McMahon studied two groups of journalists, one group that had reported on traumatic events within the previous three years (e.g., war, bank robberies, riots, rapes, and homicides) and one group that had not reported on such events in the previous three years. The results of the study indicated that some journalists experienced distress, such as intrusive recollections of the events, avoidance of reminders of the events, and symptoms of depression, following their coverage of trauma, tragedy, and disaster. In addition, some of these journalists noted sustained distress that had persisted for several years. Pyevich
and colleagues examined the impact of exposure to traumatic events on and off
the job. As in earlier PTSD studies, these researchers found that greater exposure
to traumatic events was related to greater symptom severity. Furthermore,
Pyevich et al. reported that the relationship between specifically work-related
traumatic events and PTSD symptoms was greater than the association between
non-work-related traumatic events and PTSD symptoms, suggesting that the
traumatic events viewed by journalists increase PTSD symptoms.
Feinstein, Owen, & Blair1 measured the emotional impact that covering war has on journalists.† The researchers evaluated
symptoms of psychological distress for 140 journalists who had reported on at
least one war and for 107 journalists who had not covered a war. Feinstein and
colleagues found that, compared to other journalists, war journalists reported
higher weekly alcohol consumption and higher scores on measures of depression
and PTSD. The lifetime prevalence rate of PTSD in war journalists was 28.6%,
and the lifetime prevalence rate of depression was 21.4%. The authors noted
that these rates exceeded the rates of these disorders in the general
population. However, the war journalists were no more likely to seek mental
health treatment than their peers who had reported on events that did not occur
in a war zone.
There is also one study that focused on a survey of photojournalists. Newman, Simpson, and Handschuh5 found that the vast majority of journalistic photographers had covered traumatic events. Approximately six percent of these respondents endorsed symptoms consistent with PTSD; this rate is roughly consistent with rates in the general population. In addition, the links between the specific events and the distress were not assessed, which leaves open the possibility that the symptoms of PTSD were, at least in some cases, the result of experiences outside of the journalists? professional duties. Furthermore, the data revealed that the greater the number of assignments to photograph traumatic events, the greater the level of distress reported by the journalist. Despite their exposure to trauma, only 11 percent of the photojournalists reported that they were advised by their employers of the potential emotional impact of the job, and only 25% noted that their employers had offered counseling.
Conclusions
Although
most journalists do not report chronic distress associated with their jobs,
several recent studies have documented increased rates of psychological
distress for some journalists, especially those, such as war correspondents,
whose assignments involve life threat and witnessing death, dying, and human
suffering. These studies highlight that journalism can be a profession bearing
some risk of physical harm and long-term emotional distress and that the
greater the level of exposure, the greater the risk of distress. Yet, the
literature also indicates that few employers of photojournalists recognize the
stress and negative impact on mental health that is associated with some
assignments. Even fewer employers offer counseling services and education about
PTSD symptoms.
Currently,
there is little published data that directly assess which factors mitigate
the harmful impact of journalists' exposure to trauma. However, research in
the field of trauma suggests that active coping behaviors, such as seeking
help (see seeking help fact sheet below), writing about the experience, and
social support from family and other journalists, are likely to reduce the
distress associated with exposure to traumatic events. Currently there exist
two online resources for individuals who have been impacted by their coverage
of traumatic events. These resources, the Dart Center and Newscoverage, are
organizations that have been created to provide support and information for
journalists.
Relevant websites
www.dartcenter.org - The website for the
DART Center for Journalism & Trauma at the University of Washington at
Seattle.
www.newscoverage.org - The website for
an organization that was created to help people who have been exposed to
traumatic events as a result of reporting duties.
Related Fact Sheets
Overview of
PTSD
A revised overview of PTSD from the Encyclopedia of Psychology
The
media and PTSD
The community effects of media coverage on terrorist attacks: Research from
the Oklahoma City bombing
Seeking
help
A general overview of the nature of PTSD and the resources available to individuals
suffering from PTSD
References
1. Feinstein, A., Owen, J., & Blair, N. (2002). A hazardous profession: War, journalists, and psychopathology. American
Journal of Psychiatry, 159(9), 1570ñ1575.
2. Freinkel, A., Koopman, C., & Spiegel, D. (1994). Dissociative symptoms in media eyewitnesses of an execution. American
Journal of Psychiatry, 151(9), 1335ñ1339.
3. McMahon, C. (2001). Covering disaster: A pilot study into secondary trauma for print media journalists reporting on disaster. Australian Journal of Emergency Management, 16, 52ñ56.
4. Pyevich, C.M., Newman, E., & Daleiden, E. (2003). The relationship among cognitive schemas, job-related traumatic exposure, and posttraumatic stress disorder in journalists. Journal of
Traumatic Stress, 16(4), 325ñ328.
5. Newman, E., Simpson, R., & Handschuh, D. (2003). Trauma exposure and post-traumatic stress disorder among photojournalists. Visual Communication Quarterly, 58(1), 4ñ13.
