Press Release

PESHAWAR: An international research study has reported a high prevalence and severity of PTSD symptoms among journalists working in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. The research study, which is the result of a collaboration between researchers from Pakistan and the U.S., has been published in Journalism research journal.

Journalism is a major international journal that provides a dedicated forum for articles from the growing community of academic researchers and critical practitioners with an interest in journalism. It was conducted by three academics in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and three American professors to find out how journalists covering war, conflict, and crime get exposed to psychological problems, especially trauma.

The study titled “Trauma exposure and post-traumatic stress disorder among regional journalists in Pakistan,” found that almost half of the journalists interviewed across the province (48.61%) reported prevalence of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms. This is the highest prevalence rates recorded among a vast group of journalists globally.

The findings of the study show that the journalists working in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have higher PTSD symptoms than war journalists who reported from war-ravaged Iraq and other countries. The study found that work-related exposure to traumatic events significantly contributed to the PTSD symptoms among the journalists.

The study recommends that there is a need of interventions to address the mental health issues faced by journalists reporting from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. This is the first research study that explored the PTSD symptoms among Pakistani journalists.

The research study is available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884920965783