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The War in Iraq: The psychological consequences for journalists Posted on: Mon, June 06 2005 - 2:00 pm The War in Iraq: The psychological consequences for journalists By Anthony Feinstein Professor, Department of Psychiatry University of Toronto The statistics tell a powerful story. Eighteen journalists dead in Iraq and the war has yet to end. Sadly, there is nothing new in this for it has long been accepted that war journalism is a dangerous profession. What has changed, perhaps, is the understanding that the profession can no longer simply measure the cost to toting up the obituaries. The dangers of war are often insidious and far reaching. Data recently published in the American Journal of Psychiatry revealed that front line journalists who returned repeatedly to areas of grave physical danger were at risk for a host of emotional problems, ranging from clinical significant depression to a syndrome termed posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Furthermore, a second relevant observation was that a subgroup of journalists resorted to drinking heavily, often as a means of dealing with their psychological distress. The above findings were derived from an experienced group of journalists who had spent many years in the Balkan conflicts in addition to covering wars in Rwanda, the Congo, Sierra Leone, Chechnya, Afghanistan and a miscellany of other hellish trouble spots. The question that needed answering was whether the psychological conclusions derived from these earlier conflicts could be extrapolated to the current war in Iraq? And in particular, with the emergence of the ‘embedded journalist’ phenomenon, were journalists now at an increased or reduced risk of developing depression and PTSD. To that end, with the help of CNN and ITN, a study was undertaken of 100 journalists who had covered the opening phases of the Iraq war. All data were collected by the middle of July 2003 which coincided with the end of conventional warfare. The first observation, as with an earlier study, was that the response rate was excellent, namely 88%. Of these three quarters were men. The average age of the journalists was in the late thirties. To summarise the psychological findings: roughly 20% of the sample endorsed significant symptoms of depression (low mood, tearfulness, difficulties with sleep, appetite and sexual drive, a sense of failure and guilt) while a similar percentage were troubled by an array of PTSD type symptoms (nightmares, recurrent unwanted thoughts of episodes in which they had come close to dying or seeing someone die, flashbacks, an emotional numbing, a hypervigilance even when away from danger, a prominent startle response and so on). Of note was that these percentages were lower than those gathered from earlier conflicts. This introduced a paradox, given the high death rate amongst the journalists. However, a closer look at how the journalists died revealed that motor vehicle accidents and natural causes took a toll. So too did friendly fire (an appalling oxymoron) incidents. Thus, an important finding from the opening phase of the war was that, in relation to earlier conflicts, most notably Bosnia and Chechnya, journalists felt in less danger. And this translated in turn into less depressive and PTSD symptoms. Could this have been the results of journalists embedding with the military? The answer was an unequivocal no. Approximately half the sample were embedded journalists and their exposure to life threatening events, which occurred on average three times before mid-July, did not differ from the unilateral or independent journalists. It therefore came as no surprise that the two groups of journalists, given their similar exposure to danger, had virtually identical symptom profiles. Here one should pause for a moment and reflect on just how dangerous the job is and how this group perceive danger. On average, journalists came close to getting killed once a week during the three week period the data were collected (the range was zero to ten near fatal incidents). And yet they still rated this period less hazardous than earlier conflicts. What is one to make of all of this? On the plus side it is encouraging that organisations like CNN, ITN and others are taking this issue of the ‘psychological well-being’ of their journalists seriously. Because in time, data such as these will lead to a greater awareness that physical health is inextricably linked to emotional health. And this will ensure, hopefully, that those in need receive the necessary care. On the negative side, the fact that depression and PTSD scores were lower in Iraq should not induce a false sense of comfort. The decrease was relative and in absolute numbers, the percentages remain high. It is also important to remember these figures pre-date the insurgency war, which has pushed Iraq towards the type of conflict journalists rate the most dangerous of all. Repeating the data collection closer to July when coalition forces are due to begin pulling out of Iraq should be informative and complement what has been learned already. In the final analysis, all the data collection and statistical analyses will amount to very little if the news organisations ignore the findings. Increasing awareness is important. Providing treatment is essential. http://www.newssafety.com/safety/documents/feinstein.doc This article has been viewed 7099 times » List All Articles in the Archives

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