Inoculating Resilience to Terrorism: Acute and Posttraumatic Stress Responses in U.S. Military,Foreign & Civilian Services Serving Overseas After September 11th

Abstract

American personnel living abroad were shocked and distressed as they viewed from afar the nearly live coverage of the September 11 ^th terrorist attacks on the U.S. This paper is a report on six stress debriefings conducted by an American psychologist (at U.S. embassy and NATO facilities, SHAPE, and in the community) and informal research interviews (n=250) with American diplomats, military and civilian personnel posted in Brussels and surrounding vicinity, documenting their acute and posttraumatic responses to the attacks. Participants showed strong evidence of acute and posttraumatic stress responses including: dissociation, reexperience, avoidance, hyperarousal, loss of functioning, and both functional and dysfunctional coping responses. While a controlled study was not possible under the circumstances, valuable information was nonetheless collected. Based upon the anecdotal data and results of the interventions, suggestions are made for increasing resilience to this type of stress response should attacks or high threat levels continue.

Keywords

Inoculating Resilience to Terrorism: Acute and Posttraumatic Stress Responses in U.S. Military Foreign & Civilian Services Serving Overseas After September 11th

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