|
| |
 Coping
with the 9.11.01 Aftermath
9.11 Coping Strategies
Dealing
with Your Distress
 Why
We are Doing What We are Doing
A
psychological perspective on Americans response to the distress of the aftermath of 9.11.01
1 of 2 next
to 2
Content:
We at Coping.Org are working with our students at
the University of Tampa* to create a healing site which will enable you to have
a better understanding of what behaviors are happening in your life at this time
and in the subsequent months and possibly years as a result of the aftermath of
the September 11, 2001 tragedy. The desire is to let you look at the sights and
sounds of people and their reactions to this devastating event and how they are
coping with it. It is important to recognize that many of the
"negative" behaviors like fear, worry, nervousness, numbness,
"feeling down," "being blue" are normal given the scope and
dimensions of the incredible disaster which we all have witnessed and/or
experienced. No one is immune from these feelings in America. Yes, many people
are acting like they have not been affected, but we all know that some day they
will be hit with the enormity and incredible pain which is part of such a major
traumatic disaster. They will need help and support. It is for this reason alone
that this site has been developed on the coping.org website. We stand ready to
assist people when they are ready to look at the pain, the losses, and the
emotionally overloading and devastating experience this country has gone and
will most probably continue to go through for the next year or more.
Scenes
of an Uncertain Future On Tuesday September 11, 2001 a
horrible tragedy occurred in America. As a result from these
horrible incidents, many people are missing or are no longer with us. This
leaves many Americans with a sense of loss and deep sorrow. No one ever thought
we would have to face something like this, but yet here we are, trying to cope
with this traumatic event. After the attacks
on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Americans are coping the best they
can with the uncertain and developing national climate. Everyone, everywhere is upset and nobody knows what to do. It is times like
these when one can't stop thinking about how Psychological Theorists such as Freud,
Jung, Adler and their peers would handle a situation like this one.
Carrying
on: Devastated Families Gain Comfort by Honoring Their Courageous Loved Ones
This article gives life stories about the victims and their families or
friends. Personal stories and histories of their families are
presented. This look in to the personal
tragedy which thousands of families have experienced in this great tragedy give
us an inkling of a myriad of behaviors which Professional Psychology and its
theorists would explain as normative at this time of loss and grieving.
The
terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center have resulted in a range of emotions
from US citizens and allies. These emotions have resulted in several forms of
coping, both good and bad. What follows are examples of coping as viewed from the psychoanalytical perspective of
Dr.
Sigmund Freud.
Need for Control
Defiance
of Terror Officials Urge Return, as Much as Possible, to Normalcy This
ABC news
article quoted Secretary of Defense, Donald
Rumsfeld, "The
ultimate victory in this war is when everyone who wants to can do what everyone
of us did today, and that is get up, let your children go to school, go out of
the house and not in fear, stand here on a sidewalk and not worry about a truck
bomb driving into us, and be able to be free in speech and thought and activity
and behavior. And that's victory." This shows that Freud's analysis of
control is correct, by overcoming fear the people can show that the terrorists
have failed in the goal of separation. The concept of victory stems from each
one or our inner children desiring for
control in our lives.
Art
is used to cope with emotions after New York and Washington tragedies
This September 23, 2001 CNN's news
broadcast was about students expressing their fears and reactions. There are several
reasons to examine this report, one being the analysis of emotional reactions by
the children. However, another is the analysis of what is said at the end by the
crisis team member. "We all need to return to our daily routines."
This ties back to the first point about control. The terrorists at this point
have control over our emotions because they are causing people to react to what
they do. What is suggested here is that we return to life as best as
can be done and regain a modicum of control. Freud believed that this
struggle for power was something negotiated from early times when we were still
in diapers till adulthood. Some people have been successful in negotiating the
struggle for power in their lives and will be able to better return to ordinary
life than others. Those
that become obsessive about maintaining
control will have the hardest time
returning to so-called normal life.
Defense Mechanisms
The events of
9.11.01 can be described as nothing other than horrific, tragic, and shocking.
The events of that fateful day, and the aftermath of emotions and
repercussions it has created, can be analyzed from a number of different
perspectives. Freud, a psychoanalyst, would probably say that victims of
this tragedy are going to suffer for quite a while with mixed emotions,
memories, and confusion. He would
probably go on to imply that victims, and anyone touched by the events, will use
a number of different defense mechanisms to help the process of coping, in both
positive and negative ways.
Denial
The
Days After'Maybe Daddy Fainted,' a 4-Year-Old Wished. 'Why Am I Still Here?' a
Firefighter Asked. 'I Can't Do This,' a Grieving Son Said. After Sept. 11,
Reality Was Hard to Accept.' This article from the September 30th Washington
Post gives us many examples of how victims children and families are dealing
with their losses. For many the most they can do right now to cope is to utilize
Denial to get through the Day.
Ways
some people are dealing with the tragedy This September 19, 2001, CNN report is an example about overcoming
fear. This story speaks more to the inability to cope. Denial is what is at the
heart of the inability to cope. Freud developed the theory of the defense Mechanism
of Denial. When people can not accept a tragedy they deny either its
occurrence or its effects on themselves. This could be a bad coping strategy if it goes on for too long,
since it could lead
to negative behaviors.
Officers'
Friends, Families Still Hoping And Still Searching On
Tuesday, September 11th, the world as we know came to a halt. After the attacks,
war was declared on America. These feelings will last throughout our lives and
many people will come into contact with many psychological problems. People
must accept what has happened in order to move on with their lives.
However, this tragedy has been so heartbreaking for many that they are
unable to deal with the pain and must experience what Freud would call denial.
This is the most common form of defense mechanism because it is almost a
necessary part of our life. In this
Newsday.com report of September 18, 2001, 9 days after the attack, people
were still hoping to find their loved ones. Even if they had
survived, they would not be able to live without food or water for two weeks.
Unfortunately, these people must endure the pain of losing those that are most
important to them. Sometimes not accepting the news is the only way they
can make it through the day.
Displacement
In
a country they love, a dose of hate Not
everyone goes through a denial phase. Some people skip right to expressing
their anger. Instead of channeling their feelings through positive
activities, they direct their outrage onto others.
Displacement
may also be seen in people affected by the tragedy. Displacement is defense mechanism of shifting of the targets of one’s
fear
or anger. When people should really
be upset at the terrorists, and those who helped in the destruction of the Trade
Towers and city of New York, they may in fact take their anger out on other
people. A release
valve must be found for the bottled up anger, so they may get extremely angry,
and possibly even violent with others, to mask their true anger at the
terrorists. According to
the September 24th article in the St. Petersburg Times, a newly arrived
immigrant woman from Afghanistan, was attacked by a neighbor. The woman got out
of the car and yelled at her about the World Trade center, the Pentagon, and
those who had lost their lives. The woman then slapped this innocent woman three times in the
face, knocking her down, pulled her hair, and punched her in the face. Freud would say that this is
displacing feelings because they are not targeting the blame on those who are
actually committing the crimes but are taking out their anger on innocent
people.
Arab
American and Muslim American Subject to Anti-Islamic Incidents Ever since the attack, people across the country have
been using displacement by showering their anger on Arabic people who live in the United States.
According to the council on American-Islamic relations, the total reported
anti-Islamic incidents since September 24, has reached to an unbelievable
number of 625. One such case came out of Mesa, AZ, where a gas station owner was
shot and killed. It was believed to be because he looked Middle Eastern. And
that’s not the only story, Arabs everywhere are being victimized due to
America’s displacement.
Sublimation
Angels
Among Us To defeat the severe lowering of our esteem, which
American are facing, people are using the defense mechanism of sublimation to
transform their anger and hurt into a socially positive motivation. P eople all
across the country are trying to do what they can to help the world out. Everyday new stories appear which touch our heart. They
used to
be about the victims, but now America is starting to realize that they have to
focus on the positive. All those Americans out there who are victimizing the
Islamic people in America should take a lesson from a nine year old girl named
Julia DeVita. She lost her cousin in the world trade center, and instead of
making a negative use of her anger, she set up a lemonade stand to raise money
for ground zero. (left)
"It makes them feel they can make a difference," says Rich
DeVita of daughter Julia (left) and her pals Caroline, Ricky White and Charlie
Wagner. (Nancy Pierce) People Magazine
America’s Tribute to Heroes
One main
defense mechanism that is currently seen in people everywhere is sublimation.
Sublimation is the transforming of dangerous urges into positive,
socially acceptable motivation. As was seen in this telethon aired on Friday, September 14,
2001, Americans across the country are pulling together and working toward a common
goal of helping those in this tremendous time of need.
This telethon was organized to raise money for the victims of the
terrorist actions, and reached a phenomenal amount of 150 million dollars.
This is just one example of how people are transforming negative, hurt,
and fearful urges into positive outcomes for all involved.
Repression & Denial and PTSD
These three reports from MSNBC demonstrate a condition called Posttraumatic
Stress Disorder (PTSD), which many of those who have suffered tremendous loss and psychological
pain as a result of 9.11.01 will likely suffer. PTSD is one of the most debilitating effects of traumatic
stress.
Although it takes a month of symptoms to be diagnosed with this disorder, the
chances of getting it when faced with a trauma such as this one are high.
According to the National Center for PTSD, “Exposure to grotesque, extreme
agony of others, human cruelty, dehumanization, degradation, and humiliation can
shatter reassuring assumptions and damage defenses or coping mechanisms.”
Many of survivors of 9.11.01 are very likely currently going through the
defense mechanism of repression.
This defense mechanism allows people to push threatening
thoughts back into the unconscious. The above reports show how many people are
prone to develop stress disorders as a result of debilitating sadness,
flashbacks, and nightmares. Those
who were close to the devastation are at that most risk of developing stress
disorders, and all the consequences that go along with them such as impaired
personal relationships, fear of participation in everyday activities, and job
loss.
This is an extreme form of negative
coping.
While some may develop
these stress disorders through repression, others may just try to repress all
the memories, thoughts, and images so that they don’t have to deal with the
pain and suffering they create. Another
contributor to PTSD could be the defense mechanism of denial, which is the refusal to
acknowledge anxiety producing events or stimuli. This is different from repression in the fact that people may
just deny that the events ever happened. People can be in denial for a few
days or a few months. That is when it becomes dangerous, because it turns into
repression. People try to forget about the tragedy so much that they actually
do. They push it so far back into their unconsciousness, that it becomes
unhealthy and dangerous. Though
it may seem impossible to deny the events of 9.11.01, it is likely that some of
the survivors are doing just that. It may be their
only way of getting on with their lives at this time. They will need plenty of
help and support once they come out of this fog, numbness, and repressed state.
A Healthy Prevention Strategy to Avoid PTSD:
The Price We Pay: A Survivor’s Story by Adam Mayblum, deals with how
he survived the
tragedy on 9.11.01. He talked about
what happened to him that day. He said that he had to write the letter because
he was so glad to be alive. The
letter starts off by saying that it just was another day at the office when all
of a sudden he felt the crash into the side of the building. He talked about what floor he was on and a step by step
process of how he got out of the building.
Writing a letter like this is a healthy way of expressing thoughts of
what happened. This
is a wonderful strategy incase he should experience some denial of why he survived and if it really happened.
Denial is refusing to acknowledge anxiety-provoking stimuli.
It is used to deal with stress and pain.
He needs to stay healthy in his thoughts so that he does not develop
PTSD.
Terrors Emotional Aftermath: After the Shock: Coping with Posttraumatic Stress
This report from MSNBC explains the emotions
related to the tragedy. The article
related what happened on 9/11/01 to the Oklahoma City Bombing.
The main relation was symptoms and effects of PTSD. There were relapses in
the individuals that were in the Oklahoma City Bombing.
Steps in predicting the disorder and the factors that go into it are
presented in the report. The
conclusion in this report is that the best support systems right now for all
survivors is their family and friends.
Regression
How are
you Healing? Those who were
really psychologically affected by the horrible events may go into a state of regression.
This is the defense mechanism in which people return to an earlier, safer stage of life.
People may do this as a way of dealing with all the confusing feelings of
fear, hatred, and sorrow they are experiencing.
All of this may be too much for them to handle so the only solution they
see fit is to regress to an earlier, safer stage in their life. Tom from Sweden is dealing
with this tragedy in his own way. He says, “I listen to the Beach Boys”
When he listens to them, he is trying not to think about what is really going on in
the world, and regression sets in. He begins to think about a safer time and
place.
Reaction Formation
Only
Connect For many
ex-lovers, the tragedy on Sept. 11 kicked up more than just dust,
is an article from Salon Magazine which describes how people are
treating their ex-lovers differently due to the disaster of 9.11.01. This is an
excellent example of the defense mechanism of Reaction Formation. It is a process
of pushing away threatening impulses by overemphasizing the opposite in one’s
thoughts and actions. This can be seen in how people are trying to get back with or being more loving
toward their past lovers. Phones were in use with old lovers to check in on
one another to see if they were ok.
Pressure
For Political Unity Engulfing U.S. Though
the majority of America has solidified with feelings of revenge, there are some
that are using the defense mechanism of Reaction Formation. This allows them to
not deal with their feelings in order to deal with the pain. In the September
23, 2001 article in the Tampa Tribune, a woman states that she feels war isn't the answer. Other
people are refusing to wear the colors of the flag because they feel as though
America is taking the wrong steps in dealing with this tragedy.
1 of 2 next
to 2
NEXT
 BACK TO
DEALING
WITH YOUR DISTRESS
BACK
to 9.11 Coping Strategies
HOME
*Contributors to this section are students at the University of
Tampa in the PSY 230: Personality Theories Class, conducted by Jim Messina,
Ph.D., Licensed Psychologist. These hard working students are: Leigh Ayn DiChiara,
Mary Kelleher, Matthew Robinson, George Brady, Kimili Mason, Jennifer Gill, Robyn Lyons,
Suzanne Kiener, Kate O'Leary, Jackie LeJeune, Brandy Kelley, Jaime Ruffalo, Victoria Venn,
Stephanie Nytes, Kathleen Lilly, Jaime Lampe, Julia Menard, Emily McDonald, Jenna Samuelson,
Kimberly Koram, Lori Madison, Stacy Sam Chee, Keali Driscoll, Amalie Dieumegard
|
Coping.org:
Tools for Coping
with Life's
Stressors
Coping.org
is a Public Service of James J. Messina, Ph.D. & Constance M. Messina, Ph.D.,
Email: