NCJ Number
180636
Date Published
1999
Length
9 pages
Annotation
This article explains post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and provides recommendations for journalists on how to anticipate and recognize it when interviewing victims and how to report it so as to earn the respect of the public and the persons interviewed.
Abstract
PTSD consists of three reactions caused by an event that terrifies, horrifies, or renders a person helpless: (1) recurring intrusive recollections; (2) emotional numbing and constriction of life activity; and (3) a physiological shift in the fear threshold, affecting sleep, concentration, and sense of security. Few trauma survivors experience PTSD, but PTSD is a normal reaction to abnormal events; anyone could develop PTSD given enough trauma. Victims of crime and other human cruelty experience additional emotional difficulties, including shame, self-blame, hatred, and sometimes gratitude for being alive. Journalists can report on victims, help victims as multidimensional human beings, and possibly reduce the impulse toward vengeance in the process. Crucial issues for journalists to consider are timing, setting the stage by approaching the trauma survivor with respect, recognizing that victims may display strong emotions by crying during the interview, and adapting the medical model of informed consent. Journalists should also be aware of the stages of responses to shocking events. Journalists can also fulfill a humanitarian role by including sidebars about community resources to inform the public about sources of help. Journalists may also experience secondary traumatic stress disorder when exposure to these life events overwhelm their professional detachment. Discussing PTSD disarms it by minimizing its degrading, diminishing effects, helping victims become survivors, and helping survivors regain dignity and respect. The author is a psychiatrist who has worked with and studied victims in many countries.