Stress Caused by September 11th on the Children of America

Post- Traumatic Stress as a Psychological Effect of the 9/11 Bombings to Americans

On September 11, 2001, America and the whole world witnessed the most recent terrorist attack of a free, democratic country, wherein the World Trade Center Towers in New York City collapsed after two planes had crashed towards the two towers. The said incident was a terrorist attack by Osama bin Laden and his terrorist group Al Qaeda in Afghanistan, and the said terrorist attack resulted to thousands of deaths, which are mostly composed of people inside the building and within its perimeters. In addition to the numerous deaths and physical injuries that the attack had caused, great damage also resulted with the destruction of the World Trade Center Towers. Indeed, the terrorist attack in America had resulted to considerable material and human damage, and these dangerous results as caused by the attack had prompted that U.S. government and society to protect its citizens' and the nation's security and safety through strictly-followed preventive measures such as airport and boundary checks on all points of the country, as well as combating the Al Qaeda group and bin Laden to pay for their crime to the people of the world (many victims of the terrorist attack were of different nationalities).

However, despite the strict policies and measures that he nation, particularly the government, had planned to prevent another terrorist attack from happening again, America and its people is not prepared for the more serious and severe effect of the September 11 bombings: the psychological effect of the terrorist attack to the people's well being. The task of confronting the psychological effects of the bombings only cropped up after the news of the attack and the damage it has caused has been determined; prior to the post- September 11 bombings, the individual reaction to the event, direct or indirect, was left unattended to by many people. As stringent security and safety has been finished implementation all over the country, and the war against the Taliban government, Osama bin Laden, and his group Al Qaeda was declared, the nation had turned its attention not to the American society as a whole, but to individual people who have been affected (directly or indirectly) to the September 11 bombings.

The greatest obstacle that people had experienced as a psychological reaction to the WTC attack is a stress specifically identified as post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD. This psychological disorder is the most prevalent, and detrimental, psychological effect to individuals who bore witness to the events of September 11, 2001. In an article by the Newsweek magazine entitled, "After the Trauma," PTSD is characterized as people's response to the "grief, shock, fear, and even despair" that they had felt upon witnessing the WTC bombings, most especially the numerous deaths caused by the attack (Cowley 52). Although its direct cause is not yet determined, PTSD symptoms include "intrusive memories" of events that have caused great emotional strain to an individual, which, in this case, is the WTC bombings, "hyper-vigilance," which is characterized through an individual who always seem to be "on alert" for any unexpected events or happenings, and the last symptom is withdrawal, which may be caused by the individual's inability to cope with the memories that a particular experience or event has caused him (Willens 52B).

These three symptoms of PTSD has apparently inflicted 40,000 people, which are composed of "survivors, witnesses, emergency workers," and the psychological trauma that they had experienced displayed the symptoms enumerated above regarding this psychological illness. Cowley's article for the Newsweek includes references to people who have undergone, and is currently coping, from the harmful and detrimental effects of PTSD. The article states two cases of individuals who are directly and indirectly involved with terrorist attack-related events, and have both experienced the psychological trauma called PTSD.

The first case that was cited in the article is the case of Francesco Fiorello, who was an indirectly affected individual with the recent September 11 bombings. Fiorello was indirectly affected by the said incident because he wasn't near the WTC area when the bombing occurred; in fact, he is "40 miles away" from the place, and his fear and agitation about the said event is that his wife is near WTC, and she was talking on the phone with Fiorello when the attack happened. Fiorello was deeply disturbed with the thought of his wife being so near the place of the attack, and although his wife was able to get out of the area immediately before great damage had been done, the fact that his wife had been so close to death (and with him talking to her at that moment), Francesco Fiorello eventually suffered from a feeling of great fear and agitation when he is in public and overcrowded places. Evidently, Fiorello was one of the many individuals who suffered from the September 11 bombings, even though he hasn't witnessed it personally, and had no great injury or participation in the said event. Thus, the powerful, yet detrimental, effects of PTSD is apparent in Fiorello's case of experiencing psychological trauma after the terrorist attack, and this is displayed in a symptom observed in his behavior about PTSD, which is the constant occurrence of intrusive memories about the fateful event (Cowley 52). The second case discussed is an individual who showed signs of withdrawal from his family, and is a victim of the psychological trauma of the 1995 Oklahoma bombings. The said victim of PSTD had been directly involved with the said terrorist attack, being a member of the rescue team who helped people injured from the damage caused by the bombing, and also helped in retrieving the bodies of the victims of the attack. The rescue worker's memory of pulling out from the rubble a dead body of a baby had caused him severe stress and trauma that he started withdrawing away from his family. After proper psychological treatment, it was determined that the man's reason for withdrawal is that this sight of his young daughter reminds him of the traumatic sight of the dead baby, and after proper treatment, the worker was able to alleviate his stress and trauma regarding the terrorist incident (Cowley 52A).