Mental Health Consequences of September 11: A Five-Year Review of the Behavioral Sciences Literature

Psychological and social analysis of collective trauma: the enduring lessons learned 20 years after the September 11th, terrorist attacks

“…This review exposed that the terrorist attacks were attributed to widespread emotional and psychological consequences which extended far beyond the immediate geographic areas (both direct and indirect exposure) where it occurred. Although they have similarities with existing global evidence, these findings are not irrefutably consistent (Mardikian, 2007).…”

“…People watched what unfolded globally while bombarded with a magnitude of information and traumatic images by the extensive global media coverage of the events. Mardikian (2007) conducted a comprehensive review of the medical and psychological literature published between October, 2001, and December, 2006, critically examining the psychological reactions to the devastating 9/11 attacks. This review exposed that the terrorist attacks were attributed to widespread emotional and psychological consequences which extended far beyond the immediate geographic areas (both direct and indirect exposure) where it occurred.…”

“…From a psychological perspective, the terrorist attacks had a major impact on the American and global psyche. Mardikian (2007) points out that people felt terrified by the possibility of another attack and were impacted in other associated ways such as having to follow strict protocols when travelling, became aware of racial profiling, increased racism, and discrimination aimed at certain communities and consequently had increased safety concerns and broader financial implications which further exacerbated anxiety. Green (2020) highlighted an increase in psychological diagnosis such as depression and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) between Americans, especially those who served in the military in Afghanistan.…”

“…The years after the attack were followed the major efforts by the USA to declare wars on Middle Eastern countries, often without strong evidence, which created a tense political atmosphere around the world. Soon after September 11, America declared war on Afghanistan followed by the declaration of war on Iraq, in March 2003 (Mardikian, 2007;Fog, 2017). The incident as well had broad consequences including: global technological advancements particularly in military, military tactics, the nature of war, and surveillance; it influenced the networking of population intelligence, mapping, and sharing of civilian data with allies; transference of power to far right politicians in a number of countries; it advanced national border controls and as a result further restricted immigration and refugees processes in the leading Western migrant-receiving countries; further exacerbated environmental problems; led to the empowerment of social media; and decreased dialogue and critical thinking due to greater prevalence of fake news.…”

Enhancing the Gene-Environment Interaction Framework Through a Quasi-Experimental Research Design: Evidence from Differential Responses to September 11

“…This article moves in this direction by utilizing the coincidental survey window of data collection from a national survey taken in the days surrounding the 9 / 11 terrorist attacks, combined with the molecular DNA information now available in this survey, to examine differential responses to the attacks by genotype. The effects of the terrorist attacks on mental health (Galea et al 2002; Schlenger et al 2002; Schuster et al 2001; Silver et al 2002) and other outcomes, such as in the labor market (Knudsen et al 2005), have been extensively documented; see Mardikian (2008) for a review of the literature. Additionally, research has shown important heterogeneity in individuals’ responses, for example, based on prior mental health (Calderoni et al 2006).…”