Prevention rather than cure? Primary or secondary intervention for dealing with media exposure to terrorism

The authors examined the efficacy of primary versus secondary intervention in moderating state anxiety and state anger from media-based exposure to terrorism. Two hundred participants, allocated to a terrorism or nonterrorism media exposure and to antecedent or subsequent therapeutic or control intervention, were assessed for state anxiety and state anger responses. Results confirmed that higher postexposure response in the terrorism media exposure group was successfully moderated by primary but not by secondary therapeutic intervention. Findings illuminate the need in this domain for intervention that is sensitively assessed for content and sequencing.