Terrorism is defined as a hostile attack or action that is meant to cause panic, physical damage, and even mental and emotional damage. These acts can be as small as a lone gunman firing randomly at a few people, and as devastating as hijacking aircraft and flying them into buildings, killing hundreds even thousands. Over the past twenty years, there have been over seventy terrorist attacks in the United States alone( (Psychological effects of terrorism). That number can be shocking to some people because the media only talks about the major attacks that occur.
The most recent and devastating attacks occurred on September 11th, 2001, when Arab suicide pilots hijacked four American Airlines planes and crashed them into both towers of the World Trade Center, The Pentagon, and one crashed into a small field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania when the passengers fought back and took the plane down (Psychological effects of terrorism). These attacks caused an extreme amount of damage and deaths, unlike most Americans have ever seen. The high number of death caused a great deal of psychological issues that are still affecting people today.
The most severe psychological damage was involved with the people who were in the buildings at the World Trade Center, and those who were in downtown New York City that fateful day. Some of the survivors that were at Ground Zero have shown signs of PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) (Psychological effects of terrorism). This disorder was believed to only affect veterans of war. The signs of this disorder are, fear of loud noises, being alone for an extended period of time, seeing blood, and being in large crowds of people (Psychological effects of terrorism).
People who weren’t directly affected by th...
... middle of paper ...
... the attacks still are emotionally damaged. The best way to cope with a traumatic event is to address the situation, realize what happened, and get along with your life. If you let it permanently damage your mind, the people who committed the acts have one, you must show that you can stand back on, brush yourself off, and move on with your everyday life.
Works Cited
Macdonald, Cheryl. "Emotional effects of terror." 17 August 2011. Health psychology center. 27 November 2013 .
"Psychological effects of terrorism." 18 September 2001. Yenra.com. 27 November 2013 .
Riffert, Max. "Psychological effects of terrorism." 28 April 2011. Yahoo voices. 27 November 2013 .
Terrorism – This is a word that many people are terrified of. When a terrorist attack occurs, people’s daily routines are shattered. Things change instantaneously the moment the bomb goes of. When we think about a terrorist attack that really impacted the world, we immediately think about 9/11. On that day many people were hurt directly and indirectly. People were disorientated and scared. The moment there is change, the world panics. Unfortunately, 9/11 was not the only day where people panicked. On 1988, the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 occurred. This terrorist attack was not as massive as 9/11; but, it did leave scares especially to the Syracuse University community.
Speckhard, A. (2013). The Boston Marathon Bombers: the Lethal Cocktail that Turned Troubled Youth to Terrorism. Perspectives On Terrorism, 7(3). Retrieved from http://www.terrorismanalysts.com/pt/index.php/pot/article/view/268/540
The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 were horrific and traumatic events that affected not only the United States but had global ramifications as well. The events of that day produced immediate and long term effects on numerous aspects of society. The human tragedy in the loss of human life was immeasurable. The societal effects of 9/11 continue to be present even today as the war against terror continues. It is difficult to measure the societal impacts, but the economic cost of the attacks, have been and continue to be measured.
The September 11, 2001 attacks had been planned since the mid to late 1900s just after World War Two. The events that led up to September 11, 2001 ended in tragedy. On September 11, 2001, two planes crashed into the North and South World Trade Center Towers in New York City. Flight 175,an American Airlines plane was hijacked that morning and crashed into the North tower. Only a short time later after the first attack, another American Airlines plane Flight 11 was crashed into the South tower. That same day another plane Flight 77 crashed into the West side of the Pentagon in Washington, DC. Earlier that day Flight 93 was hijacked and headed for the White House, but the passengers on board the plane took over and crashed the plane near a town called Shanksville, Pennsylvania. The terrorist plots on September 11, 2001 became the most significant attack on American soil to date.
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and acute stress disorder (ASD) are two stress disorders that occur after a traumatizing experience. PTSD is defined as a disorder that follows a distressing event outside the range of normal human experience and that is characterized by features such as intense fear, avoidance of stimuli associated with the event, and reliving the event. Acute stress disorder is defined as a disorder that is characterized by feelings of anxiety and helplessness and caused by a traumatic event. It also usually occurs within a month of the event and lasts from 2 days to 4 weeks. Dealing with experiences like the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 and the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks in 2001 were difficult for people and easily classified as traumatizing experiences. For times like these when a large number of people experience a traumatizing experience and will probably develop PTSD or ASD, there is no precedent for how to treat them. The only tool that can be used at these times is the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM), to classify the disorder. No real solution exists for a treatment process for an incident of this scale. The three journal articles I will be using show statistical data about how people dealt with these experiences and what percent of them developed PTSD or ASD. They also show how many people showed signs of these disorders but never contacted a professional to help treat it. Even as far away as Brussels, expatriates of the United States felt the effects of the attacks of September 11th.
Lester, David. “Are Suicide Bombers Heroes?” Psychological Reports Vol. 106, No. 2. 2010, pp. 499-500
...onal Survey of Stress Reactions after the September 11, 2001, Terrorist Attacks. New England Journal of Medicine, 345(20), 1507-1512.
On September 11, 2001 the world trade center and the pentagon were attacked by the terrorist group Al Qaeda. Those terrorist hijacked four airliners and flew them into the buildings that they targeted. One of the airliners did not make it to its target and crashed in an open field in Pennsylvania. 2,996 lives were lost and those include the lives lost at the world trade center, on the four airliners, and the pentagon (Miller 11). 9/11 is the worst terrorist attack to date. By looking at what terrorism is and it’s history, we can see its causes and effects in today’s society.
What internally drives a terrorist’s motivation varies from subject to subject. While the average American citizen would likely be quick to point terrorists hate the western way of life and what it represents, the issue is far more complex. Simon Cottee’s article “What Motivates Terrorists?” (2015), looks at various levels of motivation. Prior definitions of terrorism looked at the defining cause as possibly psychological abnormalities within in the individual (Cottee, 2015). As studies have evolved, the focus has shifted to the environment in which the terrorist is surrounded. While certainly there is cases in which a person who is mentally unstable could be an ideal target for terrorist propaganda, the number of cases involving mental
Under the social psychological conditioning, the first phase entails depluralization, which is followed by self-deindividualization, then other-deindividualization, dehumanization and lastly demonization. These five phases are applicable to terrorism in the order they appear in social psychological condi...
The article explains how terrorism effects the United States and the rise of terrorism in the last forty years. This article includes the data behind the death of the people from terrorist attacks that happened in the United States and people who were affected by terrorism internationally. It gives information on how Osama Bin Laden told the United States that he was going to attack through the Al-Qaeda terror network. The first attack that Osama Bin Laden made a big impact on the USA was 9/11; after 9/11 the government created new laws that help prevent terrorist attacks on USA soil. The amount of terrorist attacks has risen and fallen over the years. For example, “The number of attacks decreased until reaching the lowest point in 40 years
There are many different causes of PTSD such as sexual abuse, sudden death of a loved one, and war. Trauma affects people in different ways, some can develop it from watching a fellow soldier being killed, and some can develop it from losing their jobs or a divorce. Being diagnosed with PTSD is a difficult process because there are many other psychological disorders whose symptoms can overlap and are very similar. An important fact to remember is that PTSD doesn’t just affect the person suffering; it can also have secondhand effects on their spouses, children, parents, friends, co-workers, and other loved ones. Although there is no direct cure, there are many treatment and alternative treatment options to assist them in moving forward after a trauma.
Terror management theory encompasses a few critical psychological truths that have been backed up with a multitude of empirical evidence. It is an important theory that umbrellas many facts that pertain to anxiety, fear, and stress. Anxiety is a complex problem that can be derived from several different sources. The TMT theory, though, proposes that a root cause of the dilemma is due to societal factors that weigh heavily upon the human mind. Factors like nationalism, personal and societal beliefs, as well as political agendas keep an individual unnecessarily wrapped up in stress, worry, fear, and anxiety. It is essential that an individual, according to the theory, delve into his or her own inner psyche thorough a professional assessment by someone else who can identify the problem for the individual. According to TMT, one cannot see his or her own inner belief
A much more serious psychological trauma can leads to Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PSTD) in certain circumstance. Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PSTD) is an anxiety disorder that certain peoples can change after seeing or living through a dangerous incident or after expose to any event that results in psychological trauma. (The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), 2009). For instance, when a person is in danger, him or her certainly to feels fear. These fears eventually trigger changes in the body to get ready to self-protection to counter the danger or escape from it. But for one who suffers in posttraumatic stress disorders, their reaction is no longer same as a normal person, in order word, damaged. These people usually feel stressed or fearful even when they are safe and already escape from danger.
result of the lifestyle and activities that the terrorists are involved in, this process is known to be hazardous and stressful. “The variables that may be of importance in contributing to mental illness many include: terrorist lifestyle, terrorism effect, terrorist group conflict, interrogation effects, and the effect on the individual of the conditions of imprisonment(incarceration)” (Jones and Moran, 2003, p. 702). PTSD is one of the primary variables they focus on in the article. Most of the general public attributes PTSD to be associated solely with military personal. PTSD has been diagnosed in non-military individuals. A recent study conducted in the Middle East in “20007 studied 1500 children specifically 600 Palestinians, 450 Israeli