NCJ Number
191689
Journal
Journal of American Medical Association Volume: 286 Issue: 15 Dated: October 17, 2001 Pages: 1823-1825
Date Published
2001
Length
3 pages
Annotation
The paper examines the events of September 11 in terms of psychological effects.
Abstract
Helping those who have psychological trauma will be a long-term challenge for health care professionals. Those who experienced the highest level of exposure to a traumatic event are those most likely to have an adverse psychological response. The group with the next level of trauma are those who lost family members or friends and those who were involved in rescue efforts. Those who saw the events of September 11 on television also experienced a loss of a sense of personal safety. News reports helped trigger relapses of previous trauma, such as experiences in the Vietnam War. But symptoms, such as withdrawal and sleep disturbances, must last for 30 days before posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can be diagnosed. Many people may experience acute stress disorder, a feeling of being out of touch with events around them, for a period of 2 to 4 days. Studies show 10 to 30 percent of those who had high exposure to trauma will develop PTSD. But most will recover. The number with the disorder will halve in six months and then halve again within 12 months. Studies also suggest PTSD occurs more often in women and in people who have previous psychiatric problems. Anxiety and phobias also can be trigged by horrific events. Immediately after the Sept. 11 events, Bellevue Hospital Center, which has a large staff trained in psychiatry, made available its workers to shaken medical personnel and other people at risk of psychological stress. Later, the hospital worked with stressed families, rescue workers, and firefighters who lost colleagues. Richard Mollica, director of the Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, believes New York City will face a major mental crisis starting at Thanksgiving and continue through the New Year. Many will seek care from their primary care physician, but the health system is unprepared to deal with the crisis. Physicians should brush up on psychological trauma. Chronically mentally ill patients may not have the resources they need. As many as 15,000 children, many from single-parent families, lost a father or mother in the tragedy. Some of those traumatized may change their lives in a positive way.