Although most of us remember 9/11 through media coverage, a vast amount of victims and heroes now remain permanently scarred from witnessing the tragedy first-hand. Many are still physically suffering from their exposure to a mix of fibers, metals, concrete, noxious chemicals and gases. Yet many others are suffering mentally from their experiences on that day and the days following.
“Officially, as many as 10,000 firefighters, police officers and civilians who were at the disaster site here have been diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Other figures suggest more than 60,000 of the 409,000 who were at Ground Zero have shown elements of PTSD.”In the past 10 years, there has been more research and attention given to the very real PTSD and the stigma of mental illness and seeking treatment has also diminished somewhat.
So today, many of us are not only remembering where we were or what we were doing on that day, but those that perished, lost their lives trying to save lives and those still affected.
For more on PTSD, visit this past post: http://www.mentalhealthblog.com/2008/09/ptsd-victims-of-911.html
Our faded memories of 9-11
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9/11 will be a day that everyone right around the world will rememeber for years to come... and that's how it should be.
ReplyDeleteIt's sad for all of those people to die, but for the firefighters, the police officers and people who helped "clean up" afterwards who now live through it day after day, that is sad and my thoughts go out to them, not just on 9/11 but everyday since and always.