However, much can be done about fear. The best is to remove from source,
like the work of your friend. Next is logical analysis that one has done
everything possible to remove the cause, like the best treatment, anesthesiologist
for your hip surgery, etc.
Next is faith in the reassurances of a friend (hopefully like your
personal physician) that you are being taken care of and don't need to
stay tense and charged with "fight or flight" adrenalin to protect yourself.
At Chernobyl and with dirty bombs, HPs could be very therapeutic. Like the personal physician, HPs can remove fear of the unknown, especially when armed, not only with ion chambers, but also with knowledge. Even with N-bombs most not killed by blast or burn actually lived longer and had less cancer -as did nuclear shipyard workers. You-all are the best, to prevent post traumatic stress syndrome.
Howard Long MD
RuthWeiner@AOL.COM wrote:
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 haveHere is a real question, especially for any medical doctors out there:
been traumatized by fear. Post traumatic stress needs to be recognized as
an illness and treated.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