Therapy Can Drive You Mad – Study On 9/11 Victims
Submitted by
Lois Rain on September 4, 2011
Depending on the therapy and the circumstances requiring help, therapy might be counterproductive. A report to be published in American Psychologist looks into the after effects of 9/11 victims and suggests that trauma and Post Traumatic Stress was made worse by regression and reliving the tragic event repeatedly. ~Health Freedoms
Therapy can drive you mad, finds study on counselling given to 9/11 survivorsTherapy can exacerbate trauma and make things worse according to a study looking at the counselling given to New Yorkers in the aftermath of 9/11. The report, to be published in the journal American Psychologist next month to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, found that reliving the events was harmful for many survivors. Mental health professionals flooded the city in a wave of ‘trauma tourism’ after two planes struck the World Trade Center in 2001 according to the report. But the main psychological benefits were felt by the psychologists rather than the patients, said the study, which said experts greatly over-estimated the number of people who wanted treatment. ‘We did a case study in New York and couldn’t really tell if people had been helped by the providers – but the providers felt great about it,’ Patricia Watson, a co-author of the report who works at the National Centre for Child Traumatic Stress told The New York Times. ‘It makes sense; we know that altruism makes people feel better.’ According to the report, therapy centres were set up in the offices of major employers and in fire stations after 9/11. But for many survivors, the standard procedure at the time of asking them to talk through their experience was not helpful. Researchers believe that the process can sometimes push people deeper into depression and worsen anxiety. The report also found that claims in the immediate aftermath that watching images of the events on the television could prompt post-traumatic stress disorder were exaggerated. ‘The notion that TV caused PTSD seems absurd,’ said Richard McNally, a psychologist at Harvard. He told the New York Times that the aftermath of 9/11, ‘brought attention to the limitations’ of the asking people to talk about painful memories. The study also found that Americans who were personally affected by 9/11 are more fearful of terrorism but less supportive of overseas intervention by the U.S. than average citizens. By JOHN STEVENS Source: Health Freedom Alliance |