Throughout its history Pakistani citizens are bearing the losses resulting from
terrorism. After 9/11, 2001, there is a rise in suicide attacks on public places in
Pakistan especially in major cities. Media give massive coverage to these attacks
and highlight all aspects in detail which create a great sense of fear in general
public particularly in youth. These threats and fears can become serious
psychological problems if not met with proper treatment. In this experimental
study of media exposure regarding terrorist events and posttraumatic stress
disorder in youth, depression level and posttraumatic stress disorder are assessed
by using intervention among the 150 undergraduate students of three universities
of Faisalabad, using the technique of cluster sampling. “Self-rating Inventory
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder of 22 items” and Beck’s Inventory Depression
were used to measure the posttraumatic Stress Disorder in students. It showed
79% reliability while inter-items reliability was observed .807. Before using the
intervention Mean score of Total Pretest Posttraumatic Stress Disorder was
14.31 which increased after intervention (14.86 - 14.32) = .54. It means there
was significant psychological effect of exposure of terrorist events , which is
really a sign of contemplate for media policy makers, owners and practitioners
for telecasting terrorist event on screen because the psychiatrists recommend the
prescription and coping strategies if the person score 10 on the Self-rating
Inventory for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. The findings also reveals that the
total mean score of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder after intervention was 15.89 in
female students which was higher than male students 13.96. Beck’s Inventory
Depression finds that the depression among female undergraduate students was
higher than male undergraduate students after the usage of intervention. Both
posttraumatic Stress Disorder and depression increase after the exposure of
terrorist events which is a point of serious concern for media monitors in
Pakistan
