After 9/11, USA was more resilient than experts expected

[Divine Wind]

Although I don't agree with a few of the statements in this article, it is a very good one about the aftereffects of 9/11 on the psyche of American citizens.

After 9/11, USA was more resilient than experts expected

A few highlights selected from the article:

Ten years after the Sept. 11 attacks, the American psyche has bounced back better than psychologists predicted. But that doesn't mean the terrorist attacks didn't leave scars that are only now coming to light.

...."9/11 was not just an event trauma. It was the loss of the assumptive world," he says. "When you presume and assume you'll wake up to the same safety net that you had yesterday and you don't, you not only lose that assumption, you lose all related assumptions."

....now there is a new controversy: Research published online last month in the journal Social Science & Medicine found long-term health effects of 9/11, not just among those who were present but among people who watched the attacks live on TV.

....sychologist Suzan Stafford of Washington, D.C., was at the Pentagon after the attacks; she says resilience is key. "We want people to move on. It's an important part of our psychological makeup. … We can't stay mired in that pain," she says.

....Aber says, "Ongoing domestic and community and school violence represents a much bigger threat to children's mental health than 9/11 ever did. As bad as 9/11 was, it was not nearly as impactful on children's mental health as exposure to everyday violence in their homes and in their schools and in their communities. Harsh physical punishment in their homes or children who are bullied or witness violence in their neighborhoods have enduring effects."

....on this year's 10th anniversary, there will be a different mood across the USA, suggests Washington, D.C., psychologist Chris Courtois. The fact that Osama bin Laden was cornered and killed this year will make a big difference in the way people view this anniversary compared with the past nine years.

"There was a sense of being disempowered or 'Why didn't we catch this guy?' I think we would have felt more powerless had he not been caught.

"Now we're not just the powerless nation who couldn't catch him. We're back to having more of a sense of control."