2012 World Trade Center Health Registry

September 11, 2001 (herein referred to as 9/11) was a day in American history, which will be remembered as the most horrific attack on American soil. This attack, carried out by nineteen Islamic extremists, was associated with al-Qaeda, and involved the hijacking of four airplanes. Two of those airplanes were hijacked and flown directly into the World Trade Center in New York City, New York. The third plane’s target was the Pentagon in Washington D.C., and the fourth plane was brought down in Pennsylvania where it is believed the passengers aboard fought the hijackers. This horrific day in history cost over 3,000 people their lives, and was labeled the worst attack on American soil since the attack on Pearl Harbor during World War II.

Post-traumatic Stress Disorder is “a mental condition that can affect a person who has had a very shocking or difficult experience and that is usually characterized by depression, anxiety, etc.” (Merriam-Webster’s, n.d.) Post-traumatic stress disorder can occur after seeing a dangerous event such as war, hurricanes, car accidents, death of a loved one, and violent crimes. It can affect a victim mind, body, and the people around them. While some mental disorders are genetic, this disorder come from the things that people encounter in life. This paper will discuss the risk factor involved with post-traumatic stress disorder as well as treatments that will help overcome it and future research and approaches to treat this psychiatric illness.

There are several different assessments that can be used for victims of trauma to determine the level of stress and if a victim is suffering from Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. The best results will occur if the clinical work is directed at the symptoms expressed by the resulting trauma. When assessing the treatment plan, “the psychic injury caused by the event and its impact on the survivor’s normal life patterns and his or her worldview must be accounted for” (Everstine & Everstine, 2006, p.161). A person

Over the last decade, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have drastically increased the need for effective mental health services and treatment for U.S. veterans and service members, especially those suffering from Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Nearly 1.5 million American service members have been deployed in Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) since the attack on the Twin Towers in September 2001 (Price, Gros, Strachan, Ruggiero, & Acierno, 2013). Approximately 25% of soldiers and wounded warriors returning home from OEF/OIF present with mental illness due to combat-related violence and other trauma exposure (Steinberg & Eisner, 2015). According to Price and colleagues (2013), OEF/OIF soldiers and veterans are at greater risk for developing mental illness compared to others who served in past military operations.

This paper explores post-traumatic stress and how it is seen as a disorder. Post-traumatic stress can manifest into post-traumatic stress disorder. According to Sareen (2014), Post-traumatic stress disorder is defined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM-5 as having 4 core features that are as follows. First, the person must witness or experience a stressful event. Secondly, the person or persons would re-experience symptoms of the event that include nightmares and/or flashbacks. The person or persons would also have hyper arousal symptoms, such as concentrations problems, irritability, and sleep disturbance. The final core feature dictates

Many People are still affected emotionally by September 11 2001 today. A huge number of people are still facing mental health issues. They are trying very hard to forget about the past and move on with there every day life. Many still fear that there might be another terror attack in the United States. The American psychological association found that people living in New York who have experienced the World Trade Center attack are showing more mental health problems more than any other place. Many people feel that we should honor our love one and the police and fireman that lost their lives because of 9/11. The National September 11 memorial and Museum at the World Trade Center has been established to honor the dead and respect the historic site of America’s tragic loss. The memorial was opened on September 11 2011. It consist of two huge pools with the nation’s largest human=made waterfalls located on the site between the two fallen towers. The name of those who died at the WTC, pentagon, and in Pennsylvania aboard flight 93 . The Museum presents a gallery that tells the story of 9/11. It contains artifacts, photographs and multimedia display.

Stein, Dan J., Seedat, Soraya, Iversen, Amy, and Wesley, Simona, (2007), Post-traumatic stress disorder: medicine and politics, 369: 139 44

PTSD is increasing with expanding population today while the decreasing levels of mental healthcare services is making the mismatch more problematic for affected individuals and for the society as a

Hurricane Katrina came ashore the Gulf Coast and New Orleans and caused not only physical damage but psychological/mental anguish. This was at the end of August 2005. As a result, there was a lot of PTSD cases that were as a result of this catastrophic event. People across the United States witnessed the event unfolding on television and word of mouth but had no idea of the tremendous amount of emotional toll that the people of these communities went through and were going to continue to go through.

At the scene of the bombing, “A local hospital administrator explained modestly, ‘With the enormous outpouring of medical volunteers we received, it would have been nearly impossible not to have done a great job’” (Ray 2). After the terrorist attack of the twin towers, it was the survivors of the Oklahoma City Bombing who gave the 9/11 victims the most effective support. Janet Walker made the statement, “We’re the only ones who can truly say, ‘I know how you feel’ (Tanner 1). Kathleen Treanor, a woman who lost her daughter and both of her in-laws, said “It’s an immediate connection” (Tanner 1).

These men and women risked their lives to try to save the thousands of men, women, and children trapped inside the Murrah building. In assumption people would think this traumatic experience of trying to recover lives after the explosion would not only be very heartbreaking, but very traumatic also. Surprisingly, from all the rescue workers only 13% (24/181) were diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder (North). A test was approved and ran by the Washington University School of Medicine Institutional Review Board (North). This test involved the first group of firefighters who were involved with the bombing victims (North). These firefighters are the ones who helped recover bodies and body parts from the rubble of the bombing (North). “Two-thirds (68%) reported feeling somewhat or very upset by either or both of these activities, although many (36%) described removing the bodies as providing a sense of relief and closure to their evacuation work. Firefighters acknowledged feeling somewhat or very upset by contact with body parts (54%) and body fluids (36%), but encounters with children’s remains (72% of total sample) had the highest rating of associated upset”

Terrorist attacks weaken the spirits of everyone in the world. On the day of September 11, 2000, you can hear the endless hearts and spirits breaking around the world. In the article, “ 9/11: Finding Answers in Ashes 16 years later,” Editorial Board, tells the story of how the chief medical examiner, Dr. Barbara Sampson explains the process and the work that was completed after the 9/11 attack.

Citizens “When the Twin Towers collapsed, thousands of tons of toxic debris containing known carcinogens were released. Exposure to the chemicals led to illnesses among rescue and recovery workers.”(IBTIMES) -Mental Health Large epidemiological studies conducted by the Health Department’s WTC Health Registry suggest that post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms are the most common health effect of 9/11. Experienced by as many as 20% of adults who was directly exposed to the WTC disaster, this is roughly four times the rate of PTSD symptoms typically found in the general population.

Perhaps the most recognized terrorist attack on the United States was the World Trade Center attacks of September 11, 2011. The horrific events that unfolded as a result of these attacks will never be forgotten as well as the lessons learned by first responders. Tens of thousands of people were involved in rescue, recovery and clean-up work following the 9/11 World Trade Center (WTC) terrorist attacks. The diverse group of people who responded to this disaster included traditional first responders such as police officers, firefighters and emergency medical technicians, along with non-traditional responders such as construction workers, operating engineers and other volunteers, most of whom had no prior training in

During The 9/11 tragedies many people know it was definitely one of the worst things that happened in the US. On any given workday, up to 50,000 employees worked in the World Trade Center twin towers and an additional 40,000 passed through the complex, and more than 400 casualties were police officers and fighters, and over 10,000 people were treated for injuries after the attack (“11 facts about 9/11”). Although it may seem as though many people lost their lives in this tragic event, we have