Trauma

It has been over 20 years, but those images still haunt me. The images are from plane crashes, car wrecks, fires, lost children and others which I was covering as a newspaper photographer. It was my first job right out of college at the Hickory Daily Record.

Having just graduated with a degree in Social Work, I was probably better prepared than my colleagues who went to journalism school. Social work had trained me to deal with emotional issues. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross’s book On Death and Dying had introduced to me the stages of grief. She outlined the following stages in her book:

1. Denial and Isolation
   
2. Anger
   
3. Bargaining
   
4. Depression
   
5. Acceptance
   

I actually was using some of this to process the traumatic events. Probably the best thing I was doing was talking with other photographers about my experiences. I was processing.

Today we understand even more about these events and how to avoid Post Traumatic Stress Disorders (PTSD). Processing these events through journaling and talking with someone is very important.

The Dart Center(www.dartcenter.org) was setup to help journalists know how to deal with trauma and cover trauma. It still is not being taught in most journalism schools, so today there are many journalists suffering from PTSD. We need to raise the awareness of this problem and get journalists prepared so they do not become the victims of PTSD. We also need to help many heal from the disease.

Here are some ways to treat PTSD:

Behavior Therapy

The goal of behavior therapy is to modify and gain control over unwanted behavior. The person learns to cope with difficult situations, often through controlled exposure to them. This kind of therapy gives the person a sense of having control over his or her life.

Cognitive Therapy

The goal of cognitive therapy is to change unproductive or harmful thought patterns. The person examines his or her feelings and learns to separate realistic from unrealistic thoughts. As with behavior therapy, the person is actively involved in his or her own recovery and has a sense of control.

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

Many therapists use a combination of cognitive and behavior therapies, often referred to as cognitive-behavioral therapy or CBT. One of the benefits of this type of therapy is that the person learns recovery skills that are useful for a lifetime.

Relaxation Techniques

Relaxation techniques help people develop the ability to more effectively cope with the stresses that contribute to anxiety symptoms, as well as with some of the physical symptoms of anxiety. The techniques taught include deep breathing and exercise.

It is best to seek professional counseling. If you are a journalist, then prevention is also a good course of action. Check out the resources at the Dart Center.