What is within the “normal” range of reactions to a traumatic event like the September 11 terrorist attack?
Most child and adult survivors experience normal stress reactions for several days or weeks. Survivors experience reactions such as shock, fear, grief, anger, resentment, guilt, shame, helplessness, and hopelessness. People may feel emotionally numb, lose interest and pleasure in day to day activities, have trouble concentrating, experience memory loss, and find that they are worrying. They may also experience physical symptoms such as tension, fatigue, difficulty sleeping, and bodily aches or pain. People may also be troubled by nightmares or upsetting thoughts and images that come to mind. These are normal reactions to very stressful events. Intense or extremely strong emotional reactions are not necessarily a sign that a person will have future trouble. People can have very strong reactions and still recover fairly quickly. What is the best way to manage stress related to terrorist events? In the days and weeks after a traumatic event, the best way to cope is to do things to try to
