U.S. Army stress-control guidelines for troops who are exposed to large numbers of dead human bodies may be helpful to reporters and photographers covering the tsunami aftermath at the scene, and also to photo and video editors back in the newsroom.

In War Psychiatry, a volume of the Textbook of Military Medicine, Col. James Stokes, M.D. and Col. (Ret.) Franklin D. Jones, M.D., write, "The sights and smells (and perhaps touch) of processing human bodies invoke an arguably innate horror and revulsion. The intense sensory experiences, often combined with emotion-provoking thoughts, can form extremely vivid, painful memories that become the seeds of post-traumatic stress disorder."

In Chapter 10 of War Psychiatry, Stokes and Jones present an Army pamphlet titled "When the Mission Requires Recovering Human Dead Bodies," which includes the following tips:

• Being exposed to children who have died can be especially distressing, particularly for individuals who have children of their own.
• Being exposed to large numbers of dead bodies is not a normal part of human experience. Therefore, when you are exposed to bodies, you should not be surprised toe feeling things you are not used to.
• When you are exposed to bodies, you may experience sorrow, regret, repulsion, disgust, anger, and futility. REMEMBER, THESE ARE NORMAL EXPERIENCES GIVEN THE SITUATION IN WHICH YOU HAVE BEEN PLACED.
• Humor, even graveyard humor, is helpful if it remains on a witty and relatively abstract level. It is unhelpful when if becomes too gross, too personal (e.g. comments or practical jokes which pick on members of the team who need support, not ridicule), or too disrespectful of the individual dead. Some members of the team may become upset at excessive graveyard humor, and even the joker may remember it with guilt years later.
• Plan team as well as individual activities to relax and get your mind off the tragedy you are helping to correct. Do not let yourself feel guilty about this, or about not being able to fix all the tragedy immediately.
• Stay physically fit.
• If the stress caused by working with the dead bodies begins to interfere with your performance or your ability to relax, or if you feel that you are becoming overwhelmed, TAKE ACTION. Do not ignore the stress.
• Seek out someone to talk with about how you are feeling. This might be a buddy or someone else. Other people are likely to be feeling the same things you are. The important thing is not to withdraw from others and become isolated.
• Likewise, it is important to help your buddy, coworker, subordinate or superior if he or she shows signs of distress.