Mental Health Functioning in the Human Rights Field: Findings from an International Internet-Based Survey

Human rights advocates play a critical role in promoting respect for human rights world-wide, and engage in a broad range of strategies, including documentation of rights violations, monitoring, press work and report-writing, advocacy, and litigation. However, little is known about the impact of human rights work on the mental health of human rights advocates. 

This study examined the mental health profile of human rights advocates and risk factors associated with their psychological functioning. 346 individuals currently or previously working in the field of human rights completed an internet-based survey regarding trauma exposure, depression, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), resilience and occupational burnout. PTSD was measured with the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist-Civilian Version (PCL-C) and depression was measured with the Patient History Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9). These findings revealed that among human rights advocates that completed the survey, 19.4% met criteria for PTSD, 18.8% met criteria for subthreshold PTSD, and 14.7% met criteria for depression. Multiple linear regressions revealed that after controlling for symptoms of depression, PTSD symptom severity was predicted by human rights-related trauma exposure, perfectionism and negative self-appraisals about human rights work. In addition, after controlling for symptoms of PTSD, depressive symptoms were predicted by perfectionism and lower levels of self-efficacy. Survey responses also suggested high levels of resilience: 43% of responders reported minimal symptoms of PTSD. 

Although survey responses suggest that many human rights workers are resilient, they also suggest that human rights work is associated with elevated rates of PTSD and depression. The field of human rights would benefit from further empirical research, as well as additional education and training programs in the workplace about enhancing resilience in the context of human rights work.

Below:  Frequency and type of trauma exposure reported in Human Rights Advocates

Below:  Frequency and type of non-human rights work trauma exposure

Full article at:   http://goo.gl/2L9eQ3

By:   

Amy Joscelyne

Department of Psychiatry, Bellevue Hospital Center, New York University School of Medicine, Program for Survivors of Torture, New York, New York, United States of America

Sarah Knuckey

Human Rights Institute, Columbia Law School, New York, New York, United States of America

Margaret L. Satterthwaite

Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, New York University School of Law New York, New York, United States of America

Richard A. Bryant

School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Meng Li, Meng Qian, Adam D. Brown

Department of Psychiatry, Steven and Alexandra Cohen Veterans Center, New York University School of Medicine, New York, New York, United States of America

Adam D. Brown

Department of Psychology, Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, New York, United States of America

  

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