Letter to the editor: Headline stress disorder caused by Netnews during the outbreak of COVID‐19

摘要

In December 2019, an ongoing outbreak of a novel coronavirus(COVID-19 or 2019-nCoV) pneumonia hit Wuhan, a major city ofChina, and then quickly spread to other provinces/regions of Chinaand even the whole world. It has attracted worldwide attention, andfor a long time, the news coverage was overwhelming. The news cov-erage made the general public feel dazed and even plunged into anxi-ety and panic. The use of instant-messaging technology and mobilephones makes the news spread faster and exacerbates the anxiety andpanic of public. The psychological disorder caused by too many newscoverage was named as ‘headline stress disorder’. It 1 was first definedby psychologist Dr Steven Stosny as a high emotional response to end-less reports from the news media, such as feeling anxiety and stress.Although it is not a medical diagnosis, the continued anxiety or stressmay cause physical functionals disorders, including palpitation, chesttightness and insomnia, and further progression may lead to physicaland mental diseases, such as anxiety disorders, depression disorders,endocrine disorders and hypertension. 2,3 On 30 September 2014,after the first laboratory-diagnosed Ebola virus was diagnosed in theUnited States, a media firestorm erupted with constant updates of theEbola ‘crisis’. 4 The public anxiety and panic ensued after the report wasfrequently attributed to the media's dramatized and sensational cover-age. 5 Subsequently, media reports from unauthorized sources duringthe ongoing monkeypox outbreak in Nigeria were sensationalized andled to increased anxiety in the population. 6 The result of this type ofcoverage could lead to stress and panic among the general public. Thisis an important issue because concerns about media coverage duringa health crisis may likely re-emerge.