Fear, gloom, - and anger

By Mary Leonard, Globe Staff, 9/16/2001

ASHINGTON - It's no exaggeration to say the nation is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Numbness and sadness, anger and anguish, fear and feeling vulnerable are the symptoms. Unfathomable terrorist attacks produced them, uncertainty over the perpetrators aggravates them, and belligerent rhetoric about retaliation is no remedy - altogether, creating extraordinary psychological distress among Americans.

''This is different from any other act of terrorism and more intensely traumatic because it happened on our own soil, because those responsible apparently lived and walked among us, and because we don't know what will happen next,'' said Norine Johnson of Quincy, a neuropsychologist and president of the American Psychological Association.

The Massachusetts Department of Mental Health reports being deluged with calls from people seeking psychological services. Commissioner Marylou Sudders says last week's crisis could trigger serious emotional reactions later among adults and particularly among children if they aren't counseled now about their fears and anxieties.

Clearly, much of the emotional energy is fueling countless acts of kindness, bravery, and charity. At the Washington headquarters of the American Red Cross yesterday, blood donors began arriving before 8 a.m. ''People feel the need to do something,'' said Red Cross vice president Jackie Fredrick, noting that some have waited in line eight hours to give blood.

Johnson said ''everybody in this country'' is experiencing post-traumatic stress from Tuesday's deadly acts. It can take the form of sleeplessness, fear of leaving home, a sudden rush of tears, irritability with a co-worker or spouse, or bouts of uncontrolled anger. At its worst, the rage is flaring in acts of vandalism, violence, and verbal abuse toward Arab-Americans.

Juliette Kayyem is experiencing it firsthand. An Arab-American who directs a project on counterterrorism and domestic preparedness at Harvard University, Kayyem has received so many angry e-mails that she has created a computer file called ''crazies'' and is refusing to take part in any more talk-radio shows.

''It's incredibly stressful,'' Kayyem said. ''You want to say everything is OK, everything is safe, but it's not OK. You just don't know.''

Kayyem's brother, Faiz, a biogeneticist who lives in Los Angeles, was in London when the attacks came. When he reached Toronto, heading home, Kayyem warned him to rip up his pilot's license and ''behave'' when he crossed the border into the United States.

''He is a dark, Arab-American man with a pilot's license, and he is the kind of person who gets annoyed when someone singles him out,'' Kayyem said. ''I told him, `Play by the rules. It's a lot scarier now.'''

But Americans aren't aiming their anger and frustration only at those who share ethnicity with suspected terrorists. Jerry Deffenbacher, a psychologist who studies road rage, said when people are threatened, it's natural for them to seek enemies indiscriminately.

''In the short term - using an analogy for pent-up anger - there will be more gas in people's tanks,'' said Deffenbacher, a professor at Colorado State University. ''In this situation, with people feeling powerless and out of control, it falls on leaders like President Bush and [Secretary of State] Powell to set direction and send clear messages.''

Bush has tried to comfort an anxious nation by being visible and talkative, by praying at the Washington Cathedral, visiting hospital patients from the Pentagon, embracing firefighters at the World Trade Center wreckage in New York, and encouraging acts of patriotism. He also called on the country to respect Arab-Americans and not associate them with acts of terrorism.

Yesterday, in remarks at Camp David, the president used the strongest retaliatory rhetoric yet, singling out Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden as the ''prime suspect,'' promising to find the terrorists and ''smoke them out of their holes,'' and vowing to ''eradicate the evil of terrorism.''

Former senator David Pryor says politicians should be cautious not to inflame public sentiment for revenge by ''rushing to judgment'' or promising quick military strikes. It took five months, Pryor recalls, for the first Bush administration to launch the Gulf War after the invasion of Kuwait.

''These are precarious times,'' said Pryor, now director of the Institute of Politics at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. ''We're faced with a country that out of patriotism and out of anger wants to respond. The challenge for our leaders is to make sure those emotions aren't channeled in the wrong direction.''

Friday, the American Friends Service Committee launched a ''No More Victims'' campaign to find peaceful ways to help Americans heal in the wake of the attacks. In Washington, more than 200 clergy have signed a statement calling for ''sober restraint'' in response to the terrorism.

''I am ready to do whatever it takes to go in and bring the terrorists to justice,'' said the Rev. Jim Wallis, head of Call to Renewal and author of the statement. '' But I don't want to massively take innocent lives in the process.''

Shaun Quigley, 26, an Amherst College graduate who grew up in Chicopee, said emotions have ranged from fear to grief to anger in the days since the attacks, and now he is willing to do whatever is necessary - giving blood yesterday, perhaps even enlisting in the military if the nation goes to war - to do his civic duty.

''I know that sounds like a cliche, but I want to do what I can to help,'' said Quigley, who now lives in Herndon, Va., and works for an advertising agency.

Psychologists say it is very helpful for people with post-traumatic stress disorder to find ways to share their fears, anxieties, and anger. Nationally, the American Red Cross collected 176,000 donations for a three-day period last week; normally, it's about 20,000 a day. But the sites have become more than just places to give blood. They have taken on the symbolic role of community healing centers in the crisis, Fredrick said. Friday, the Red Cross choir sang patriotic songs in the national headquarters ballroom, which was turned into a donation center.

''It makes you wonder about this talk that Americans have no sense of community,'' said Alan Wolfe, a sociologist at Boston College. ''At times like these, when you need to be at your best, Americans are at their best.''

Religious services, lighting candles, and talking to neighbors can be very therapeutic, said Sudders, the mental health commissioner.

This story ran on page A24 of the Boston Globe on 9/16/2001.
© Copyright 2001 Globe Newspaper Company.