Disasters and mental health | |
Terrorism and disaster. Individual and community mental health interventions. Robert J Ursano, Carol S Fullerton, Ann E Norwood (editors). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003 (xii + 349 pp + CD-ROM). ISBN 0 521 53345 7. |
The audacious atrocity
of 11 September 2001 has spawned a number of books of varying quality and political perspective. It was inevitable that one would appear on the psychiatric impact of terrorism and technological disasters, and discuss interventions to prevent or ameliorate their devastating psychological effects.
The contributions in this edited collection are extraordinarily uneven in quality. There are some outstanding chapters — such as the astute and intellectually rigorous account by Simon Wessley of screening in the prevention of traumatic psychiatric disorders, and the wide-ranging review of "debriefing" by Beverley Raphael with its blunt message, empathically delivered, regarding the ineffectiveness of this intervention. There is also a complex and very thoughtful chapter by Weisaeth and Tonnessen on technological disasters and radiation exposure. Interestingly, the better chapters come from authors outside the United States. The American contributors, many of whom are affiliated with the military, convey an air of earnest self-absorption coupled with seemingly cathartic self-disclosure, muted expressions of shock over their homeland having become a terrorist target, and a naïve optimism about the effectiveness of treatment for severe post-traumatic psychological morbidity. Much attention is paid to the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the bombing of the US embassy in Nairobi, the Oklahoma City bombing and the attack on the USS Cole. By contrast, there is hardly a word about Bhopal, Omagh, the Tokyo sarin gas attack, the Rwanda genocide, Chernobyl, or, indeed, the 1982 bombing and siege of Beirut. Although, under the circumstances, this is understandable, it does make for an overall lack of balance and gives an introspective feel that limits its usefulness and interest to non-American readers. Perhaps, with more time to fully digest what has happened to America, a more broadly based collection on the same subject, but with a more uniform quality and international appeal, will be published. This is certainly not that book. Vaughan J Carr
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