Documentary produced by Sunnybrook psychiatrist premiering today

A documentary examining post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in war correspondents, and produced by a doctor at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, is premiering today in Los Angeles.

"In a post 9/11 world, journalists have become 'high value' targets for assassination, kidnapping and intimidation. We wanted to examine how they are managing emotionally in this climate of unprecedented danger," says Dr. Anthony Feinstein, the producer of the film and a psychiatrist at Sunnybrook.

The film, entitled Under Fire: Journalists in Combat, features nine journalists from Canada, the U.S., and the U.K. recounting their stories of traumatic experiences and brushes with death while reporting from the front lines of war.

The subject matter of the film is also very timely, given the situation that many journalists are currently facing in the Middle East. "Iraq has been by far the most lethal conflict for journalists, with close to 200 members of the press killed so far. This number exceeds the mortality rate for journalists from World Wars I and II and the Vietnam War combined," says Dr. Feinstein.