Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma

"I can no longer go down that lonely farm road. I still see the bloodied, headless body of the motor cyclist jump out at me from behind the tree that killed him. I was first on the scene before the ambulance or police. I didn't know what else to do other than take in the details for my local paper. I continued to have nightmares for a long, long time about this."

So says a small town journalist quoted in an article by Cait McMahon, director of Dart Centre Australasia. In the piece, published on Australian Broadcasting Corporation's "Unleashed," McMahon discusses the unique plight of journalists among first responders, bearing witness to trauma but professionally unable to aid victims directly. She illustrates the effects of this work with clinical findings, including her own, that suggest 15% or even 25% of journalists suffer from probable Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and a higher proportion may suffer from depression and anxiety.

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