Mental health carries a stigma in Pakistan, but one team is fighting the taboo to help journalists traumatized by their work covering the front line of the country’s battle with terrorists.<\/p>\n
Mental health carries a stigma in Pakistan, but one team is fighting the taboo to help journalists traumatized by their work covering the front line of the country’s battle with terrorists.<\/p>\n
Peshawar (dpa) \u2013 Amin Mashal was among the first people to reach a Pakistani military training academy when Taliban suicide bombers had just killed nearly 100 recruits, three years ago.<\/p>\n
The young journalist was traumatized by the brutality of the attack in the north-western town of Charssada in May 2011.<\/p>\n
He saw bodies in pools of blood, scattered limbs and wounded soldiers moaning in pain.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was the worst thing I have ever come across in my life,\u201d Mashal, now 24, recalled his first experience covering a terrorist attack. \u201cIt was terrifying.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mashal was in a state of shock after the attack that the Taliban said was to avenge the killing of al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden by US commandos weeks earlier.<\/p>\n
The subsequent murder of a colleague by jihadi militants in Mohmand tribal district near his hometown made Mashal jumpy and aggressive, and his anxiety began to reflect in his work.<\/p>\n
But he never thought about counselling, because of the stigma attached to mental health issues in conservative Pakistani society.<\/p>\n
He nearly quit working as a reporter for the state-run radio after Taliban gunmen killed 136 children at an army-run school in the city of Peshawar on December 16.<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt would have a nervous breakdown if I continue to cover such incidents anymore,\u201d Mashal said.
\nBut he recently found renewed courage to pursue his dream career.<\/p>\n
Mashal was among 15 journalists treated for post-traumatic stress at a centre established by Peshawar University, with technical and financial assistance from the German DW Akademie.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was encouraged by my teachers to go for therapy and it feels much better now,\u201d Mashal said, speaking from the journalism department of the university where he also completed a master’s degree last year.<\/p>\n
DW Akademie provided funds to finance the centre for three years, and the university’s psychology department provides expertise and infrastructure.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was badly needed here,\u201d said professor Altafullah Khan, who heads the journalism department and is coordinating between the DW Akademie and the university.<\/p>\n
\u201cJournalists are the first ones to get exposure to violence. Trauma is natural in some cases,\u201d said Khan, who formerly headed the German broadcaster’s Urdu-language service.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe idea behind the project is to make sure that the impact of trauma does not reflect in journalists\u2019 reporting of some of the most depressing incidents,\u201d said Khan.<\/p>\n
Marina Khan and Farhat Naz are the psychologists providing counselling and proposing therapies to journalists bruised by years of exposure to violence.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost newsmen come to us with problems like aggression, anxiety, stress, abnormal sleep patterns and disturbed appetite,\u201d Naz said. <\/p>\n
The psychologists said they often have to probe to determine the exact nature and level of their depression because Pakistanis do not easily open up about mental health issues.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the most difficult part,\u201d Naz said. \u201cYou have to make them realize that this is a problem that needs to be taken care of.\u201d<\/p>\n
Khan said he was happy with the way journalists had responded to the initiative.<\/p>\n
Fifteen journalists were treated at the centre during the first three months of its launch.
\n\u201cThis is something much better than our expectations,\u201d Khan said.<\/p>\n