IMPORTANT FACTS

1. An alarming report that 71% of Americans suffered from depression following the 9/11 attack was based on a psychiatric survey of only 1,200 people within several days of the attack.In this way, a predictable human reaction to a horrendous tragedy was immediately turned into a “mental disorder.”

2. Opportunist psychiatrists predicted “post-traumatic stress disorder” (PTSD) in a large percentage of New Yorkers following the attacks, requesting $3 billion to “treat” it.

3. Three psychiatrists first invented the term “PTSD” to describe difficulties suffered by Vietnam War veterans. While the effects of war are devastating, psychiatrists use people’s logical reactions to it to make money at the expense of their vulnerability.

4. Experts hold that the “psychological trauma counseling” often provided to victims of terrorism or tragedies “at best is useless.” Recipients have done “worse than those who received nothing at all.”

5. Much data exists validating man’s resilience following tragedy and the value of talking to an understanding friend, family member or member of the clergy at such times.

CHAPTER FOUR Targeting the Victims

We’ve been led to assume, by the psychiatric ‘crisis teams’ sent almost immediately to any disaster scene, that people suffer severe psychic wounds from experiencing such traumas—or even from being in the general vicinity when they occur,” says Dr. Sydney Walker III, neurologist and author of A Dose of Sanity. “DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Edition IV) categorizes the symptoms most survivors experience following a disaster as ‘acute stress disorder,’” he continues, “suggesting that they are pathological and require treatment. But are these people really suffering from a ‘disorder’ requiring psychotherapy and the use of potentially addictive medications? Are they really at great risk of suffering long-term consequences from their trauma? The answers, surprisingly, are ‘No,’ and ‘No.’”

In September 2001, a U.S. Senate hearing on “Psychological Trauma and Terrorism” was told, “Seventy-one percent of Americans said that they have felt depressed by the [9/11] attacks.” An alarming statistic, until one realizes that the survey was conducted during the six days immediately following the 9/11 terrorist attack, when Americans were still in a state of shock and suffering predictable reactions to the horrific occurrences. The survey sampled 1,200 people, which, by some quantum semantic leap, concluded that an alarming 71% of Americans had been harmed.

Within days of the 9/11 attacks, psychiatrists were predicting that as many as 30% of people affected by the recent attacks would develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Three billion dollars were desperately needed, they claimed, for treating the mental health problems in New York alone.

In 2002, however, The New York Times reported that only 120,000 (out of eight million) residents of New York City—that is 1.5 percent—actually sought assistance in the eight months following 9/11. A 2003 study published in The American Journal of Psychiatry also found the use of mental health services in New York and Washington, the cities most directly affected by the attacks, did not increase. The researchers said the study “provides the first information to suggest that the events of Sept. 11, at least in the first six months, had little impact on actual use of mental health services by a population with ready access and at high risk.”

Next

Back to Contents