[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

RE: ARTICLE: Fallout likely caused 15,000 deaths

Ruth,
I would say that fear is a response that is based on a response to danger.  We have all had experiences that have frightened us, but the sensations pass immediately or after a time.  However, there are events that trigger a psychological response in some people that does not go away.  It used to be called shell-shock in World War I, battle fatigue in World War II, and now post-traumatic stress.  Some never recover, even when they go back to the civilian world.  And like all medical and psychological conditions, there are different degrees of response.  For some, an event such as a loud noise will cause them to have a momentary flashback.  For others, they are unable to function in society:  they cannot hold jobs, have relationships with friends and family, turn to drugs or alcohol.  The trauma is that the fear response does not go away, and interferes with normal life.  I am sure you have read of people who have been mugged and are constantly in fear of it happening again.

-- John

-----Original Message-----
From: RuthWeiner@aol.com [mailto:RuthWeiner@aol.com]
Sent: Thursday, March 07, 2002 7:59 PM
To: Jacobus, John (OD/ORS); radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu
Subject: Re: ARTICLE: Fallout likely caused 15,000 deaths

In a message dated 3/7/02 4:12:10 PM Mountain Standard Time, jacobusj@ors.od.nih.gov writes:


While there were no deaths following the accident phase, people may have
been traumatized by fear.  Post traumatic stress needs to be recognized as
an illness and treated.


Here is a real question, especially for any medical doctors out there:

What differentiates fear from post-traumatic stress?  When does fear become "trauma?"  Some scary things I have done: mountain climbing, my Ph. D. oral prelim (don't laugh.  I was so scared I had real immediate physical symptoms), my first hip replacement, my daughter's eye surgery, sailing in a storm.  I was scared enough to be physically ill, but I certainly didn't suffer   POST-traumatic stress.  Soldiers on a battlefield cope with fear all the time, but all of them do not suffer post-traumatic stress.  Women in labor are frightened.  Anyone who has been mugged has known fear.

   
Ruth Weiner, Ph. D.
ruthweiner@aol.com