“Terrorism does not terrorize”: Study
Instead, they suggest that policy-makers would do better to note how people usually cope by making use of their own networks and initiative, and to encourage responses to terrorist events that highlight social bonds and people’s resilience, rather than their psychological vulnerability.
Unhelpful classiciations
Lead author, Professor Bill Durodie from the Department of Politics, Languages & International Studies explained: “After 9/11 there was an enormous push to uncover evidence of PTSD in people who said that they had been affected by those events either directly or indirectly through the media.
“Despite this, the reassuring conclusion of our work is that terrorism does not terrorize – at least not any more than being traumatized by any other challenging event. In that regard, our findings fly in the face of various announcements from politicians, officials, the media and even other academics that terrorist incidents impact our mental health and wellbeing adversely.
“This is not to say that people who experience traumatic events do not need psychological support, but we believe that it is unhelpful to categorize more people than is true with PTSD. We are also saying that there were many other effects of 9/11 that were overlooked – primarily respiratory disorders, as well as economic and social ones, such as people losing their jobs.
“There is clear evidence of people’s resilience in the face of such events and so, for us, it is important for politicians, the media and commentators to take these findings on board and re-focus attention more on this in the face of such terrible events.”
Impact on TV audiences
Dr. David Wainwright, Senior Lecturer in the University’s Department for Health, added: “Notably, our work also drew into question the presumption that people, particularly the young, can be traumatized merely through watching such events unfold on TV. Some researchers did rush to such conclusions but usually retracted them a few years later. Unfortunately though, it is their earlier, impressionistic assumptions that continue to be cited in many instances, despite most noting that there is no conclusive evidence on this.
“Of course, young people should be protected from events and have these explained to them. They may need to have their television viewing limited too. But this has more to do with the challenges of asserting parental authority today – a social factor - than media or medical effects that are deemed to be inevitable. The inordinate focus on children in the work we reviewed may also express an unstated desire to control adult responses through the auspices of protection.”
— Read more in Bill Durodie and David Wainwright, “Terrorism and post-traumatic stress disorder: a historical review,” The Lancet Psychiatry (17 October 2018) (DOI: doi: org/10.1016/S2215-0366(18)30335-3)
