There are an almost infinite number of stress factors in the life of a working journalist, ranging from the obvious threats to physical safety to far subtler pressures and challenges. We can loosely divide them into three categories.

• Journalistic
• Professional
• Social

Journalistic

Journalists belong to the group of first responders that includes the emergency services, the armed forces and humanitarian aid workers.

Whatever calls there might be for "more good news", the subject matter of international coverage is frequently traumatic in nature. It involves contact with people in severe crisis and increasingly puts the journalist in harm's way.

Stress factors include:

• Armed conflict and its aftermath
• Terrorist attack
• Natural disasters (e.g. floods, earthquakes, famine)
• Man-made disasters (e.g. road, rail and air crashes, explosions)
• Crime (e.g. murder, rape, child abuse)
• Civil unrest (e.g. riots, mass demonstrations)
• Kidnap (e.g. including journalists themselves)
• Poverty (e.g. long-term chronic hardship is difficult to cover both professionally and personally.)

Professional

Aside from the subject matter of international news coverage, there are many work-related stresses that can begin to interfere with one's mental and emotional wellbeing, to say nothing of one's capacity to produce a good file.

• Feeling that your managers are unsupportive, bullying or incompetent
• Responsibility for local employees
• Ever tighter deadlines
• Constant travel
• Lack of input into choice of angles, stories to cover
• Frustration (particularly common among deskers who may see correspondents getting the credit for stories that they have sometimes completely re-written.)
• Inadequate technical support (or just too much technology to master)
• Poor internal communication
• Role confusion
• Tight budgets
• Competitiveness with colleagues
• Insecurity, threat of unemployment (e.g. through mergers, cutbacks)
• Overwork (or not enough to do)

Social

It is often assumed in journalistic circles that anyone should be able to adapt to any situation at any time. Indeed, most reporters are highly adaptable creatures, adept at taking unforeseen developments in their stride. By the same token, anyone can be tripped up by a range of social difficulties, especially when working overseas.

Paradoxically, many causes of stress are also symptoms (see types and symptoms of stress), creating a vicious circle. Feeling homesick can, for instance, lead to higher levels of stress. But high stress is also likely to make you feel home-sick.

National staff members who live and work in their own countries are vulnerable to a whole host of other pressures. They may be resented or even targeted by members of their own communities for working with foreigners. In areas of conflict, they are also worrying about the safety of their own families and friends. And while expatriates can come and go, local staff often do not have that luxury.

The many social stressors include:

• Disillusionment
• Cultural confusion (e.g. difficulty in learning a local language and customs)
• Home-sickness (difficult to admit to in a high-powered international environment)
• Loss of sense of home (e.g. it is easy to feel one belongs nowhere after many years abroad, but this can also strike people who live and work in their own countries, especially if they are routinely threatened.)
• Fear of going home (e.g. for expatriates, an ordinary life back at home can seem frighteningly mundane)
• Trouble making local friends
• Loneliness
• Relationship difficulties (e.g. unusual working hours can play havoc with relationships, as can long-distance connections or involvement with culturally incompatible local partners.)

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