What Therapists Need To Know About Treating Journalists Who Experienced Online Harassment
Resource for Mental Health Professionals
Experiencing online harassment can cause psychological trauma with symptoms of avoidance, anxious or intrusive thoughts, and/or isolation. Developed in partnership with psychologists, this resource includes examples of how trauma symptoms can be exhibited for this specific population and event-type (journalists and can extend to content creators).
Mental health professionals can utilize this resource like a clinician tip sheet. People who experience online harassment can also point their therapists to this resource, but also hopefully use this information to help contextualize and normalize the thoughts and feelings that may arise.
“My therapist doesn’t get it. I don’t want to have to explain what it feels like to be attacked online.”
As nonprofit advocates at OnlineSOS, we’ve heard this complaint often from people who have experienced online harassment, particularly from journalists. To best support these clients to cope and recover from trauma caused by online harassment, mental health providers need to be equipped with the knowledge and information to provide psychological support.
What is online harassment?
Online abuse or harassment is defined as “the repeated or severe targeting of an individual or group online through harmful behavior” (PEN America). Online harassment is ubiquitous: Over 40 percent of Americans have experienced some form of online harassment (Pew Research Center).
There is a wide range of tactics, including hate speech, violent threats, impersonation, cyberstalking, doxxing (revealing private information), and other harmful behaviors. Harassment often takes place through social media.
Online harassment often isn’t only one single incident, but typically at volume across multiple communication channels, especially on social media. What’s more, the perpetrator may use intimate personal details against them and those close to them.
Online harassment as trauma
Online harassment can be viewed as a traumatic event. Oftentimes, people describe an incident using words like attack, barrage, bombardment, flood, tsunami, torrential, avalanche, trench warfare; all words that describe a threat to physical and emotional safety (UNESCO).
Its impact
Research shows that online harassment can have detrimental impact on an individual’s economic, emotional, physical, and psychological well-being (ADL), including:
reducing or changing online activity (36%)
trouble sleeping, concentrating, or feeling anxious (25%)
depressive symptoms or suicidal thoughts (11%)
changing routine or moving locations with the purpose of reducing physical safety risk (10%)
Why journalists?
Journalists are at heightened risk for online harassment. Journalists are expected to maintain a strong social media presence and engage with the public on the topics they report on (i.e. beats) and their articles. Online harassment occurs so frequently that journalists have told us they are “desensitized by now” and “after a while, you get to a point where you block it out or ignore it.” (Online SOS). One female journalist told us, “I get a death threat or rape threat in my inbox every couple days.” (Online SOS).
90 percent of American journalists described online harassment as the biggest threat to journalists today, with women and minority journalists being disproportionately targeted online (Committee to Protect Journalists). 26 percent of women journalists surveyed in a 2021 UNESCO report identified mental health impacts as the most significant consequence of online harassment exposure (UNESCO, 2021).
Trauma symptoms
[1] Avoidance
Journalists may want to avoid the place the incident took place or avoid actions that they believe will result in future harassment.
However, avoidance is typically not a feasible option due to a journalist’s job and often comes at a professional cost. As a result, journalists are often assessing threats and weighing the risk/reward of their actions in anticipation of online harassment.
Examples of avoiding location of incident
“I dread opening up Twitter, but I need to for work [to keep up with breaking news, story leads, and sources].”
“I have to check my phone notifications, but I have no idea if it’s going to be my editor or some abusive garbage.”
“I want to delete my account, but I can’t. I used to be really active, but I try to stay off of it now. So I check it once in a while and occasionally retweet.”
Examples of behavior change to avoid future harassment
“It has changed how I’ve reported stories…I’m more careful in my wording.”
“I write about [specific topics] under a pseudonym.”
“I took myself off a byline because of harassment.”
“I avoid covering controversial or politically divisive topics because of the abuse.”
“There’s reporting that I would like to do, but it’s not safe enough.”
“I don’t want to do the job anymore... I worked hard and made sacrifices to get here, but sometimes I feel like it’s not worth [the abuse].”
[2] Anxious or Intrusive Thoughts
Journalists may have anxious or intrusive thoughts as part of a trauma reaction. Journalists may think about what they’ve experienced before or have observed happen to their peers.
Examples
“I have no idea who did this, and I’m worried it’s going to escalate. I don’t know if it’s connected to what I’m about to publish or just random.”
“I’m afraid this is going to ruin my reputation…or worse, I’m going to lose my job.”
“I can’t get these images out of my head before going to sleep.”
Examples of when thoughts may intensify
In anticipation of harassment, such as before an investigative piece drops
After a spotlight has been put on work (such as amplification on a social media platform or a television segment)
When seeing others experience similar harassment experiences
In lull times when there may not be anything to occupy or distract
[3] Isolation
Journalists who experience online harassment describe it as “incredibly isolating.” Journalists may internalize the harassment incident and feel a sense of shame or self-blame. One journalist told us, “I know it’s not my fault, but I can’t help but feel like I did something wrong, or something to cause this. I can’t believe this is happening.”
Journalists may choose not to share about the incident for a variety of reasons.
Examples of reasons journalists can’t or don’t share:
“I’m prohibited from commenting given my paper’s social media policies”
“I don’t want them to know it’s getting under my skin… that they are ‘winning.’”
“I’ve seen talking about it publicly just makes the harassment worse.”
“I don’t want to be known for this [the incident].”
“I don’t want people to think I’m weak or a liability, like I can’t cut it here.”
“I’ve seen there was a fall-out after another journalist reported it…so why risk it?”
The sense of isolation can be exacerbated by the lack of support from their newsroom and other challenges faced in resolving the issue.
What’s next?
As more therapists understand online harassment’s impact on journalists, more journalists will in turn receive effective mental health support and psychological treatment.
For more information on the perspectives of journalists on mental health impacts of online harassment, you can find quotes and findings in this resource: “Journalists on Online Harassment and its Mental Health Impacts: What We Face and What We Need”.
The Clinician Tip Sheet (“What Therapists Need To Know About Treating Journalists Who Experienced Online Harassment”) was developed by OnlineSOS in partnership with leading clinical psychologists, journalists, and stakeholders and made possible by the support of Google Jigsaw and the Coalition Against Online Violence. For any questions or feedback, please contact team[@]onlinesos.org.
References
PEN America’s Online Harassment Field Manual, accessed on Oct 31, 2022
Pew Research Center, January 2021, “The State of Online Harassment”
UNESCO, April 2021, “The Chilling: global trends in online violence against women journalists”
ADL, May 2022, “Online Hate and Harassment Report: The American Experience 2020”
Online SOS
Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) study referenced in Google research paper
UNESCO, April 2021, “The Chilling: global trends in online violence against women journalists”