Jens Riewa
After a serious accident, he suffers from psychological problems
© NDR / Thorsten Jander
Ten years ago, “Tagesschau” spokesman Jens Riewa was in a serious car accident, which left him with no physical scars, but rather mental ones. The presenter now talks about this traumatic experience and reveals that he still struggles with panic attacks to this day.
Now Jens Riewa was a guest on the show “Käpt’n’s Dinner” and spoke openly about the accident and revealed what effects it had on his psyche.
Jens Riewa talks about his serious accident: “At first I thought I was going to burn in the car”
In the NDR show, presenter Michel Abdollahi, 43, welcomes his guests on a submarine. Not an easy walk for Jens Riewa, who suffers from claustrophobia. “I’ve had massive claustrophobia over the last few months,” he says, explaining that he was thrown around in his car during the accident. “At first I thought I was going to burn to death in the car because I misjudged the fog in the cabin. At that moment I had finished living. A real near-death experience that I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy,” said Riewa.
At that moment he imagined that in the next few seconds something would pierce his chest from the dashboard. He simply hoped that it would “go quickly.” Eventually, however, he was able to free himself from the wrecked car. Although “not much happened” to him, a few weeks later “the classic problems of post-traumatic stress disorder” appeared.
“I broke down mentally”
“I collapsed mentally and had to seek treatment,” says the 60-year-old. He was recently triggered by a program about cave explorers. When he saw the report on TV, a scene flipped “some switch” in him, the news anchor explains. Fighting back tears, he added: “Since then, the problems have been stronger than ever.” In order to process the terrible experiences and get his fears under control, Jens Riewa undergoes talk therapy and “sometimes takes medication for panic attacks.”
Sources used: bild.de, ardmediathek.de