WATCHING repeated screenings of terrorist attacks on television alters the structure of the brain and increases the viewer’s risk of suffering post-traumatic stress disorder, research suggests.

Joan Anzia, a professor of psychiatry, told the annual meeting of the Royal College of Psychiatrists that footage such as from the attacks of September 11, 2001, played into the hands of terrorists by increasing stress impact on the brain.

Professor Anzia, of Northwestern University in Chicago, said that people who repeatedly watched footage of the attack in the days after had a higher risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder. Research showed that prolonged stress caused an increase in the size of the amygdala, the part of the brain that processes the basic emotions of fear, anger and anxiety.

“TV companies that screen disaster footage to boost ratings should examine their consciences, as they are causing harm to their audiences,” Professor Anzia said.

The conference, being held in Glasgow, heard that this increased sense of fear and anxiety was one of the main targets of terrorists.

Psychiatric research of the attacks on New York has shown that people who watched the coverage most incessantly, even if they were thousands of miles away, were often as likely to be as traumatised as those who were actually there.

Other research has found that the closer a person lives geographically to the location of a disaster, the higher the chances of developing the disorder. One study even suggested that almost half the population of the United States had experienced at least one symptom of the disorder in the week after 9/11.

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