The Oklahoma City bombing, intentional crashing of airliners on September 11, 2001, and anthrax attacks in the fall of 2001 have made Americans acutely aware of the impacts of terrorism. These events and continued threats of terrorism have raised questions about the impact on the psychological health of the nation and how well the public health infrastructure is able to meet the psychological needs that will likely result. Preparing for the Psychological Consequences of Terrorism highlights some of the critical issues in responding to the psychological needs that result from terrorism and provides possible options for intervention. The committee offers an example for a public health strategy that may serve as a base from which plans to prevent and respond to the psychological consequences of a variety of terrorism events can be formulated. The report includes recommendations for the training and education of service providers, ensuring appropriate guidelines for the protection of service providers, and developing public health surveillance for preevent, event, and postevent factors related to psychological consequences.

The threat of domestic terrorism today looms larger than ever. Bombings at the World Trade Center and Oklahoma City's Federal Building, as well as nerve gas attacks in Japan, have made it tragically obvious that American civilians must be ready for terrorist attacks. What do we need to know to help emergency and medical personnel prepare for these attacks? Chemical and Biological Terrorism identifies the R&D efforts needed to implement recommendations in key areas: pre-incident intelligence, detection and identification of chemical and biological agents, protective clothing and equipment, early recognition that a population has been covertly exposed to a pathogen, mass casualty decontamination and triage, use of vaccines and pharmaceuticals, and the psychological effects of terror. Specific objectives for computer software development are also identified. The book addresses the differences between a biological and chemical attack, the distinct challenges to the military and civilian medical communities, and other broader issues. This book will be of critical interest to anyone involved in civilian preparedness for terrorist attack: planners, administrators, responders, medical professionals, public health and emergency personnel, and technology designers and engineers.

A rich collection of studies by mental health professionals that provide a deep understanding of the nature of psychological trauma induced by modern terrorism

This book provides a comprehensive insight into the multilayered effects experienced by directly affected victims and their indirectly affected family members following terrorist incidents and other world disasters. Chapters draw primarily on interviews with fifty victims of the Bali bombings, but also consider terrorist incidents including the London and Boston bombings, and disasters such as the Boxing Day tsunami and the Fukusima nuclear disaster. The book provides a detailed exploration of experiences and perceptions of those involved in the traumatic events, as well as their families, emergency response teams and community volunteers. Chapters discuss community responses to major incidents, appropriate non-medical models of intervention and vulnerable groups that may require special attention. The findings and analysis presented contribute to our understanding of the multilayered effects of terrorism on victims of all levels, and the importance of a planned and informed response, which includes the local community and its wealth of pre-existing resources. Terrorism, Trauma and Psychology: A multilevel victim perspective of the Bali bombing will be key reading for researchers and academics in the fields of social and clinical psychology, as well as scholars of victimology and terrorism studies.

This volume describes a variety of public mental health and psychosocial programs in conflict and post-conflict situations in Africa and Asia. Each chapter details the psychosocial and mental health aspects of specific conflicts and examines them within their sociopolitical and historical contexts. This volume will be of great interest to psychologists, social workers, anthropologists, historians, human rights experts, and psychiatrists working or interested in the field of psychotrauma.

Psychological Effects of Catastrophic Disasters: Group Approaches to Treatment comprehensively discusses the basic information about the psychological effects of traumatic disasters and what can be done to treat them in group settings. Internationally renowned authorities thoroughly explore medical treatment and numerous evidence-based group interventions, providing expert suggestions and revealing examples as illustration. This essential source provides a quick reference for mental health and health professionals prospectively facing the traumatic aftermath of terrorist disasters and other catastrophic events. The royalties from this book shall be donated to organizations which provide direct services to those who continue to be affected by the events of September 11th, 2001 and Hurricane Katrina (August 29th, 2005).

Terrorism and war have engendered a special set of people with distinctive and uniquely contemporary therapeutic needs. How do we cope with the personal experience of political violence? Living with Terror, Working with Trauma addresses the ways that mental health practitioners can assist survivors of terrorism. Drawing upon the experience of leading practitioners and renowned experts throughout the world, this edited volume explores the most innovative methods currently employed to help people heal--and even grow--from traumatic experiences. It argues for a multi-dimensional approach to understanding and treating the effects of terror-related trauma. Comprehensive in scope, Living with Terror, Working with Trauma covers psychodynamic, cognitive-behavioral, existential, and neuro-physiological techniques for working with individuals and groups, children and adults, both in the clinic and in the field. The contributors share their personal and clinical experiences in Hiroshima, Cambodia, the Middle East, Vietnam, and other sites of mass violence and terror, including the Holocaust. A special section is devoted to the September 11th. As it addresses the basic existential challenge of finding meaning and creatively transforming one's experience of terror and trauma, this volume explores the territory, identifies the key problems, and presents effective therapeutic solutions.

Does terrorism have a unique and significant emotional and behavioral impact among adults and children? In what way does the impact of terrorism exceed the individual level and affect communities and specific professional groups, and test different leadership styles? How were professional communities of mental health clinicians, policy-makers and researchers mobilized to respond to the emerging needs post disaster? What are the lessons learned from the work conducted after 9/11, and the implications for future disaster mental health work and preparedness efforts? Yuval Neria and his team are uniquely placed to answer these questions having been involved in modifying ongoing trials and setting up new ones in New York to address these issues straight after the attacks. No psychiatrist, mental health professional or policy-maker should be without this book.

In this groundbreaking book, a leading clinical psychiatrist redefines how we think about and treat victims of trauma. A "stunning achievement" that remains a "classic for our generation." (Bessel van der Kolk, M.D., author of The Body Keeps the Score). Trauma and Recovery is revered as the seminal text on understanding trauma survivors. By placing individual experience in a broader political frame, Harvard psychiatrist Judith Herman argues that psychological trauma is inseparable from its social and political context. Drawing on her own research on incest, as well as a vast literature on combat veterans and victims of political terror, she shows surprising parallels between private horrors like child abuse and public horrors like war. Hailed by the New York Times as "one of the most important psychiatry works to be published since Freud," Trauma and Recovery is essential reading for anyone who seeks to understand how we heal and are healed.

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