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Stress and strain suffered by journalists comes under the spotlight

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Mental health and burnout in the often cut-throat journalist  and media profession has come under fresh spotlight.

The issue was highlighted by the recent death of well-known American journalist Blake Hounshell who died aged just 44 after a long battle with depression.

The matter was also debated by a panel of high-ranking journalists in a fringe event at last week’s World Economic Summit.

As heads of governments, business, and civic society leaders and activists gathered in Davos, Switzerland, all eyes remained focused on the main stage. Side events attract less attention though they may be well worth the trouble. A panel on 'Mental Health in Times of Global Crisis' (19 January) is a good example.

Kathleen Kingsbury, opinion editor at The New York Times, opened the event. She started by telling the audience the subject is personal: "Journalists are no strangers to stress, anxiety and trauma.”

Kingsbury led a special projects team at the Times where she was responsible for an ambitious and powerful four-part series of guest essays on mental health in America, “It’s not Just You.” The series argued that the current mental health crisis isn’t just about our unhappiness as individuals but about the world we live in. In her remarks. she remembered the recent loss of Hounshell, a newsroom colleague.

Jillian Melchior, an editorial board member at The Wall Street Journal, moderated the panel conversation between two very different experts: Managing Partner at Gallup Pa Sinyan, and Alysha Tagert a mental health practitioner and trauma therapist who served as Executive Director of the Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition International and currently works with UNICEF and USAID on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support. 

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During the discussion, Pa Sinyan cited alarming health statistics, demonstrating that the professional world is still not doing enough to address stress. According to Gallup’s 2021 Global Emotions report, negative emotions — the aggregate of the stress, sadness, anger, worry and physical pain that people feel every day — skyrocketed, reaching a new record in the history of Gallup’s tracking. Not surprisingly, unhappiness and a sense of loneliness are at all-time high, and suicide among children and young adults breaks records with 54% growth over the last 15 years. Though no age or social group remained unaffected by the trend, COVID, Sinyan suggested, “has added a ‘burnout gap’ to the list of challenges that women in particular must overcome,” and we need good leadership to “prioritize tackling this imbalance”. 

Alysha Tagert highlighted the need for mental health to be accepted as routine and necessary. "Seeking mental health support still carries too much stigma, not just in the professional world," she warned. “If we are to move forward towards a more productive and whole society, mental health needs to be at the center of the conversation, not just something we pay lip service to or tack on as an employee seminar.” She emphasized the need to look at our state of mind not as a condition to be diagnosed and treated but as a continuum of well-being, an inextricable aspect of each person: “Just as our physical health is a vital part of who we are, so is our mental health.”

To help control stress and anxiety day-to-day, Tagert left the audience with a few tangible takeaways.

She recommended simple and easily accessible tools to self-soothe and calm down: “I encourage my clients to assemble a coping toolbox, which is an actual container filled with items that can help them soothe themselves in a time of panic or anxiety by engaging the senses. The toolbox should contain simple everyday items, such as sugar-free gum, a stress ball, or a fidget spinner that can bring a person to the present moment through touching, tasting, seeing, etc. For example, noticing the smell, texture, color, or flavour of chewing gum forces the mind to focus on the act of chewing.” 

Engaging the senses, Tagert explained, has the power to turn the mind away from an intrusive memory, intense thought, stress or fear, and has a nearly instant calming effect. Another important healing tool is a connection within families and communities.

“We heal in the context of being connected to one another and this aids as a protective factor for our mental health,” Tagert added. She also mentioned childrens’ ability to play as a clinically observable symptom of healing. 

The pannelists agreed that psychological wellbeing and mental health support, though not exactly front and centre issues at Davos, demand serious and urgent attention. The impact of devastating world events, from the once in a century pandemic, to war in Ukraine and profound global economic uncertainty, only exacerbated the already rising levels of stress and anxiety.

Focusing on them is a must for individuals and communities alike. As Alysha Tagert put it: “To embrace mental health is to embrace human dignity.”

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