|
| Anguish
of Recent Events Can Awaken Old Trauma |
By ERICA Goode and ROBIN POGREBIN
In the dreams, George Humphrey is running for his
life through a dark tunnel, his pursuer close behind
him. He startles awake, his sheets drenched in sweat.
Mr. Humphrey's nightmares originated in a war fought
three decades ago in the jungles of Vietnam. But
the terrorist attacks have reopened old psychological
wounds for Mr. Humphrey and for others whose carry
the scars of earlier traumas, as well as for people
who were already struggling with depression, anxiety
disorders or other psychiatric illnesses before
Sept. 11.
"New trauma awakens old trauma," said
Dr. Rita Seiden, executive director of the Park
Slope Center for Mental Health in Brooklyn.
Hot lines, clinics, hospital emergency rooms and
private therapists reported last week that they
were beginning to see a steady stream of people.
Many, said Dr. John Draper, director of the LifeNet
hot line of the Mental Health Association of New
York City, "are either a bit numb, like many
of us, and some are trying desperately to process
the events and are doing exactly what they are supposed
to do, and that is talking about it."
Dr. Philip Wilner, the medical director of behavioral
health at New York Weill Cornell Center, said he
counseled a man who worked in the World Financial
Center and was evacuated after the attacks.The man
had lost his mother when he was 6 and the family
had gone through difficult times, when he felt an
overwhelming helplessness.
"He is a highly functional executive who has
had very little contact with the mental health community,"
Dr. Wilner said. But as a result of the chaos and
terror of the evacuation, "what he's experiencing
now is more severe and he is also dwelling on what
he experienced before."
Dr. Wilner said another man, who suffers from schizophrenia
and on average days is "mildly paranoid,"
came to the hospital the day after the twin towers
fell, convinced that the attacks were a personal
message directed at him. "People with anxiety
disorders are more anxious, people prone to worrying
are worrying more," Dr. Wilner said.
In the post-traumatic stress disorder program at
Bronx Veterans Affairs Medical Center, where Mr.
Humphrey spends most days, many men whose wartime
memories had quieted are experiencing renewed symptoms,
said Dr. Rachel Yehuda, director of the program.
Private therapists in Manhattan and other boroughs
also said they were dealing with the impact of the
events in sessions with regular patients, often
while struggling at the same time to cope with their
own anxiety and grief.
"What's impressed me the most is that everyone
is filtering this through their own psychology,"
said Dennis Haseley, a psychoanalyst in private
practice." Whatever issues or conflicts they
have are being interwoven with this."
A variety of treatments, mental health professionals
said, can help people with immediate distress and
with long-term problems. But they cautioned that
treatment must be tailored for the person receiving
it and should include specific techniques for coping
with traumatic distress. The goal, some experts
said, is to help people feel less helpless and stirred
up, emotionally and physiologically.
Dr. Francine Cournos, a professor of clinical psychiatry
at Columbia University and the organizer of a training
session held yesterday for mental health professionals,
said therapists needed information about which crisis
intervention methods were likely to be most helpful.
Many clinicians who came to the workshop, she said,
already understood the issues "and just needed
some training in specific techniques." "You
don't want to go to a site once, stir up a lot of
feeling and never follow through," Dr. Cournos
added.
Feelings of numbness and unreality that persist
for a week or more after the attacks can be warning
signs, many experts said, as can complete avoidance
of discussions, people or places that carry reminders
of the events.
Yet what is most crucial, mental health experts
agreed, is having the support of family members,
friends and the community at large.
|
