A Hazardous Profession: War, Journalists, and Psychopathology

Abstract

War journalists have significantly more psychiatric difficulties than journalists who do not report on war. In particular, the lifetime prevalence of PTSD is similar to rates reported for combat veterans, while the rate of major depression exceeds that of the general population. These results, which need replicating, should alert news organizations that significant psychological distress may occur in many war journalists and often goes untreated.

Work-related post-traumatic stress disorder

“…Media employees who have been in war zones have far more post-traumatic stress symptoms compared with those who have not, but refusing dangerous assignments may have adverse career consequences. A lifetime prevalence of PTSD close to 30% in this group may be explained by not receiving treatment for PTSD, depression and alcohol abuse, lack of training in dealing with being in a war zone and lack of social support in 'a culture of silence' [55].…”

Gender Disparities in Quality of Life and Psychological Disturbance in Patients With Implantable Cardioverter-Defibrillators

“…High internal consistency and high reproducibility have been reported for the Japanese translation of the IES-R. 23 We set the cut-off value for PTSD as 20 in accordance with a previous report. 24 The STAI measures reported anxiety symptoms. 23 It measures state anxiety and trait anxiety.…”

“…I worry about traveling to a place where there aren't any doctors who know about the ICDs. 24. I worry that paramedics don't know how the ICD works.…”

Dangerous settings and risky international assignments

“…Fisher et al, 2015) and war journalists/correspondents (e.g. Feinstein et al, 2002). Other studies have considered the HRM issues of hostile environments abroad (e.g.…”