Veterans with pre-existing post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) showed fewer symptoms during the period following the attack on the World Trade Center and Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, Yale researchers found.
Unexpectedly, veterans admitted to Veterans Administration hospitals following Sept. 11, 2001, reported less severe symptoms of PTSD - such as nightmares, reactions to loud noises and numbness of feelings - on both PTSD measures than veterans admitted in the previous six months of 2001. Reports of reduced alcohol and drug abuse, violent behavior, unemployment and psychiatric diagnoses were less dramatic.
Robert Rosenheck, M.D., professor of psychiatry and epidemiology and public health, speculated that the veterans with PTSD felt more normal and their military service more appreciated in the days following the bombing.
“These veterans seem to have benefited from the increased sense of community, patriotism, and national pride across the country,” Rosenheck said of the study published in the December issue of Psychiatric Services. “Also, discussion in the media of PTSD-like reactions helped normalize their symptoms and gave them a sense of mastery and competence for dealing with these symptoms for so many years.”
The study was based on two overlapping samples. One sample included 9,640 veterans assessed on admission between March 11, 1999 and March 11, 2002. The other sample included 6,829 veterans who had a four-month, post-discharge assessment during the same period. None of the programs were located in either New York City or Washington, D.C., the principal locations of the terrorist attacks.
“Anecdotal reports from VA clinics suggest that some veterans, far from being overwhelmed by the horrific destruction, experienced feelings of familiarity, mastery and competence as survivors who had been exposed to horror in the past, but who had experience in coping with the resultant painful memories,” Rosenheck said. “When the staff in these programs expressed unusual distress and apprehension following the terrorist attacks, veterans are reported to have mobilized themselves to be helpful in a difficult time.”
The study was funded by the Department of Veterans Affairs. The co-author was Alan Fontana of Yale.
Citation: Psychiatric Services; Vol. 54, pp-1610-1617
