In Part 4 of the series on mental health and the newsroom, we meet Mac McClelland, a renowned journalist who has traveled around the world covering stories of sadness, violence, and disaster. It was through her work experiences and the trauma she witnessed that led to her experiencing first hand the wraths of PTSD. In light of her experiences with PTSD, McClelland has become more outspoken about mental well-being in journalism. Through both her new memoir as well as this interview, McClelland emerges as a mental health advocate and brings to light the importance of recognizing the impact of trauma, particularly amongst photographers and writers like her who are frequently exposed to it.
"Nobody that I have ever talked to has been trained to think about their emotional wellness before they go on an assignment. I certainly do now, but that's not normal. Your editors are never like, “Hey, how are you going to take care of yourself and your feelings? ...
Society as a whole sucks at PTSD awareness -- it’s a thing nobody knows or talks about -- and that extends to journalism. We don't know that PTSD actually affects way more civilians than it does soldiers in the United States. But journalists suffer in higher numbers from PTSD than the general population, just because of what reporters are being exposed to.
The profession could really be a trailblazer on the issue. We could say, “Listen, we're going to talk about this in our own profession. We're going to have conversations about it. We're going to act like it really exists. We're not going to pretend like we're all super tough, reporting robots who don't have any feelings.” That is a thing that journalism as a profession could do and if it did, I think you could have a big impact on the way that the rest of the culture deals with PTSD."
"Nobody that I have ever talked to has been trained to think about their emotional wellness before they go on an assignment. I certainly do now, but that's not normal. Your editors are never like, “Hey, how are you going to take care of yourself and your feelings? ...
Society as a whole sucks at PTSD awareness -- it’s a thing nobody knows or talks about -- and that extends to journalism. We don't know that PTSD actually affects way more civilians than it does soldiers in the United States. But journalists suffer in higher numbers from PTSD than the general population, just because of what reporters are being exposed to.
The profession could really be a trailblazer on the issue. We could say, “Listen, we're going to talk about this in our own profession. We're going to have conversations about it. We're going to act like it really exists. We're not going to pretend like we're all super tough, reporting robots who don't have any feelings.” That is a thing that journalism as a profession could do and if it did, I think you could have a big impact on the way that the rest of the culture deals with PTSD."
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