Aftermath of a disaster: the collapse of the Hyatt Regency Hotel skywalks

Abstract

The author provides data regarding psychiatric symptoms reported by 102 persons who had experienced the collapse of two skywalks in the lobby of the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Kansas City, Mo. Those interviewed were injured victims, guests of the hotel who were not injured, and rescue workers. They were interviewed within 5 months of the disaster. Virtually all of the subjects had psychiatric symptoms; only slight differences were found among those who were victims, observers, or rescuers.

Disintegrated experience: The dissociative disorders revisited.

“…Memory disturbances were also characteristic of 44% of diagnosed PTSD victims of the Victoria bush fire at both 8 and 24 months after the incident (McFarlane, 1988). Finally, Wilkinson (1983) reported that 27.4% of the Hyatt Regency victims sample had memory deficits.…”

“…An investigation of initial and long-term reactions to an airplane crash landing found that 54% of the survivors reported feeling detached or estranged (Sloan, 1988). Somewhat lower percentages are reported by Wilkinson (1983) among survivors of the Hyatt Regency Skywalk collapse in which 114 people died. Of his respondents, 36% mentioned an inability to feel deeply about anything, 34% reported loss of interest, and 29% mentioned feeling detachment.…”

“…Horowitz, 1976). In addition to the substantial literature on war-associated PTSD, Wilkinson (1983) reported that 88% of his Hyatt Regency sample had repeated recollections of the disaster; Madakasira and O'Brien (1987) noted that within their sample of tornado victims, 92% had intrusive thoughts and 44% had recurrent dreams. Valent (1984) reported that later memories of a fire disaster were vivid and frequent, particularly in the presence of specific cues.…”

The amygdala mediates the facilitating influence of emotions on memory through multiple interacting mechanisms

“…Although there is no definitive data linking BLA activity patterns to specific cognitive events (however see Kreiman et al, 2002 ; Mormann et al, 2011 , 2019 ), it is clear that emotional arousal impacts cognition. For instance, a well-established consequence of emotional arousal is rumination, whereby subjects report repeatedly experiencing intrusive memories in the aftermath of traumatic or emotional experiences ( Brown and Kulik, 1977 ; Nolen-Hoeksema and Morrow, 1991 ; Wilkinson, 1983 ). While spontaneous intrusive recollections are particularly prevalent among subjects afflicted with post-traumatic stress or major depressive disorder, “normal” subjects experience them too ( Reynolds and Brewin, 1998 ).…”

Recovered Memories of Child Sexual Abuse: Forgetting to Remember and Remembering to Forget, Part 1: A Perennial Controversy

“…Recovered memories of traumatic events have long been documented in a diverse range of populations. These include survivors of natural disasters and accidents (Janet, 1889, as cited in Van der Hart, Steele, Boon, & Brown, 1993;Madakasira & O'Brian, 1987;Wilkinson, 1983), soldiers exposed to 18 Sylvia Solinski combat (Grinker & Spiegel, 1945;Kardiner, 1941;Myers, 1915;Sargant & Slater, 1941;Thom & Fenton, 1920;Van der Kolk, 1987), victims of kidnapping, torture and concentration camp incarceration (Goldfeld, Mollica, Pesavento, & Faraone, 1988;Kinzie, 1993;Kuch & Cox, 1992) and convicted murderers (Schacter, 1986). In 1980, in the wake of reported memory disruptions (both amnesia and flashbacks) in Vietnam veterans, psychological trauma was officially recognized and introduced into the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-III (American Psychiatric Association, 1980) as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).…”