While the death and destruction caused by the Troubles in Northern Ireland has been the subject of detailed news coverage, the psychological impact of the decades-long conflict has received little attention.

"Over the last 30 years there's been very, very little reporting on the psychological aspects of the Troubles at home; very, very little reporting by journalists and very, very little research carried out by health professionals," said Oscar Daly, psychiatrist and Board Member of the European Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ESTSS), during a discussion held July 15 at the Frontline Club in London and sponsored by the Dart Centre.

Daly noted that the Troubles have taken a psychological toll on journalists as well. "I think journalists who report regularly on incidents can themselves reach a certain level where the bottle becomes full, and they just can't cope any more after the accumulation of covering so many traumatic incidents," he said.

Also taking part in the discussion were BBC reporter Mervyn Jess, and consultant psychiatrist, Alliance Party leader, and former speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly (1998-2003) Lord John Alderdice.

Jess, speaking of his experience covering the Troubles, noted the reluctance with which journalists discuss their own psychology. "Journalists are not that forthcoming when it comes to talking about themselves," he said. "We like talking about somebody else and their problems, but talking about our own problems is a bit like trying to crack a very hard nut."

Alderdice emphasized the need for journalists covering difficult subjects such as the Troubles to find ways to escape the harmful effects of traumatic stress. "Journalists, working in the same place over a long period of time, facing a repeated difficult, high emotion experience, have to either find some way of protecting themselves psychologically, or find ways in which they start to crumble," he said. "Most of them find ways of protecting themselves, thankfully; but not everybody does."

He added: "We need to start acknowledging that there are real problems for people whose jobs take them into such problem areas — such as journalists, or doctors or other kinds of health professionals, or security forces. It's not an easy thing to solve, because the defences you need to create in order to survive doing the work may actually make it difficult for you to process the problem."

» Click here for the full transcript of this discussion ...