The aftermath of terrorism.

Abstract

The insidious reality of terrorism is that that anyone, anytime, anywhere can be a target. No one is immune; no one is safe. Terrorism is a vicious and violent strategy intended to kill innocent people and designed to intimidate and control a group or a nation by the threat of random murder. The traumatic impact of terrorism is greatly magnified because it is of human design. The intention of terrorists is to demoralize their targets, to undermine a community's sense of security, and to violate the belief that one's self, loved ones, and others are safe from harm. Victims are chosen precisely because they are helpless and defenseless; for this reason, children are often the targets of terrorist attacks.Terrorism is an extreme form of trauma. All victims of violence may develop an acute sense of personal vulnerability and live in distressful expectation of harm; however, the extreme magnitude of violence involved in terrorist acts may undermine the cornerstones of possible recovery environments (e.g., home and family, peer group and school, and community). Moreover, terrorism's effects extends far beyond its direct victims to include secondary (e.g., helpers) and tertiary victims (e.g., relatives and next of kin). Increased media coverage, shared values, and identification with the victim also can extend victimization to an entire community or a nation. The unique

The New Zealand earthquakes and the role of schools in engaging children in emotional processing of disaster experiences

“…representative samples, or interview children in familiar surroundings (Gurwitch, Sitterele, Young, & Pfefferbaum, 2002;Prinstein et al, 1996;Silverman & La Greca, 2002). The challenges include that schools themselves might have suffered damage, school staff might be coping with their own home and family issues related to the disaster, communication and transport may be affected and schools might prefer to focus on reestablishing routines or catching students up on missed work (La Greca, 2006;Smawfield, 2013).…”

Terrorism and Resilience: Adolescents' and Teachers' Responses to September 11, 2001

“…Suggestions about how to explain the attacks to children and help them regain their sense of safety and security were initiated and welcomed by many mental health professionals. Much of this information relied on previous work from tragedies such as the Oklahoma City bombing and the Columbine High School shootings (e.g., Gurwitch, Sitterle, Young, & Pfefferbaum, 2002). The heightened sense of vulnerability experienced by most Americans may have been exacerbated by the extent of media coverage, leading to a ripple effect that extended far beyond the New York-Washington, DC corridor.…”

Adolescent Vulnerability following the September 11th Terrorist Attacks: A Study of Parents and their Children

“…These widespread responses to the attacks are not surprising, as mass media coverage of major disasters seems to expand geographically the impact of these events (Wright, Ursano, Bartone, & Ingraham, 1990). To the extent that individuals identify themselves and share values with those directly affected by the events, the impact of events may also widen to include entire communities or a nation (Gurwitch, Sitterle, Young, & Pfefferbaum, 2002). In addition, unlike many traumatic community events that are publicized nationwide, there was great uncertainty on the day of the terrorist attacks about how widespread the impact might be.…”