MrsSpringsteen
Blue Crack Addict
How did you feel that day and how has it changed you? Obviously much more intense for those in NYC or Shanksville or DC, but perhaps we are all filtering reality in order to deal with the real threat of terrorism and with the memories of that day.
Maybe I'd say it's made me more realistic-less naive and more aware. But in many ways less fearful, as weird as that sounds. By that I think I mean more brave personally. When I got on a plane two months later I realized that I could have that bravery.. And more aware that things can be taken away at any time, on any day. That's something I make a conscious effort to be aware of. It's like they mention here-about trauma making you rather than breaking you.
http://health.msn.com/centers/depression/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100144320
"In the aftermath of 9/11, newspaper headlines warned of post traumatic stress disorder, and the mental health community arrived in full force, ready to pick up the pieces of a torn national psyche. FEMA granted the state of New York $154.9 million “to relieve mental health problems caused or aggravated by the World Trade Center attack,” according to the organization’s Web site. Everyone stood on tiptoe, breath held, expecting to see the darkest corners of massive, community-wide mental illness."
Trauma and stress is a double-edged sword, it can make you or break you,” says Bell. “The general rule—and what we saw after 9/11—is that people are more resistant and resilient when they are vulnerable.
"This is because something like 9/11 prepares people—at least mentally prepares them—for the worst that could happen.”
The exception to the rule, then, is when trauma “breaks” those who’ve experienced it. Mental health experts have performed studies suggesting that people who suffered from pre-existing mental health problems before the attack—problems like alcoholism, drug addiction and depression—struggled more severely with these issues in the wake of 9/11.
This filtering of reality, while forestalling further symptoms of stress, may be too effective for our own good, says Smith. “The last thing you want people to do when there’s an impending risk is tune out and be inattentive. We don’t want our subway passengers to be tuning out. We don’t want our airline attendants to be inattentive.”
Today, says Smith, terrorism is a conversation piece, a subject for water cooler discussions or backyard barbeque talks. It is something that many Americans—Bob Hedges included—say they are more fascinated by than truly worried about.
“We have all the seeds of a third world war, and it’s serious. Damn serious,” says Hedges. “I think it’s only a matter of time before something else awful happens, but it certainly doesn’t do you any good to sit around and sweat about it. Think about it, yes. But stew about it and worry about it, no. Life must go on, you know?”
Maybe I'd say it's made me more realistic-less naive and more aware. But in many ways less fearful, as weird as that sounds. By that I think I mean more brave personally. When I got on a plane two months later I realized that I could have that bravery.. And more aware that things can be taken away at any time, on any day. That's something I make a conscious effort to be aware of. It's like they mention here-about trauma making you rather than breaking you.
http://health.msn.com/centers/depression/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100144320
"In the aftermath of 9/11, newspaper headlines warned of post traumatic stress disorder, and the mental health community arrived in full force, ready to pick up the pieces of a torn national psyche. FEMA granted the state of New York $154.9 million “to relieve mental health problems caused or aggravated by the World Trade Center attack,” according to the organization’s Web site. Everyone stood on tiptoe, breath held, expecting to see the darkest corners of massive, community-wide mental illness."
Trauma and stress is a double-edged sword, it can make you or break you,” says Bell. “The general rule—and what we saw after 9/11—is that people are more resistant and resilient when they are vulnerable.
"This is because something like 9/11 prepares people—at least mentally prepares them—for the worst that could happen.”
The exception to the rule, then, is when trauma “breaks” those who’ve experienced it. Mental health experts have performed studies suggesting that people who suffered from pre-existing mental health problems before the attack—problems like alcoholism, drug addiction and depression—struggled more severely with these issues in the wake of 9/11.
This filtering of reality, while forestalling further symptoms of stress, may be too effective for our own good, says Smith. “The last thing you want people to do when there’s an impending risk is tune out and be inattentive. We don’t want our subway passengers to be tuning out. We don’t want our airline attendants to be inattentive.”
Today, says Smith, terrorism is a conversation piece, a subject for water cooler discussions or backyard barbeque talks. It is something that many Americans—Bob Hedges included—say they are more fascinated by than truly worried about.
“We have all the seeds of a third world war, and it’s serious. Damn serious,” says Hedges. “I think it’s only a matter of time before something else awful happens, but it certainly doesn’t do you any good to sit around and sweat about it. Think about it, yes. But stew about it and worry about it, no. Life must go on, you know?”