When the backpack is full: the omertà surrounding the psychological burdens of academic research

A quick Google search – keywords: ‘trauma among academic researchers’ – reveals the immense gap around this topic in academic discourse. Search results indicate that most studies of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) focus on stress following a childhood trauma or a major life event (assault, violence, abuse, rape, etc.). At the same time, there is a robust literature about particular professional groups with an elevated risk of encountering potentially traumatic situations: soldiers, medical staff, journalists, human rights defenders, and so forth…. Ironically, though, there is nothing on the phenomenon of post-traumatic stress among academic researchers who work in contexts of conflict or violence. They head to the field, often without any form of physical protection, without any preparation for the mental weight of their research, and without any follow-up or after-care when things take a bad turn