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'I'm fine,' many trade center survivors say, but post-traumatic stress widespread
Sunday, Dec. 16, 2001
 
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Christine Gillies poses outside of her midtown office in New York, Dec. 13. Gillies escaped from her 87th floor office in the World Trade Center on Sept. 11. Experts say many people like Gilles are now showing symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, a psychiatric condition that can develop after experiencing or witnessing a life-threatening event. An estimated 18,000 people escaped the World Trade Center during the Sept. 11 attacks, thousands more witnessed the horror from the ground, and countless others, from relief workers to television viewers, were affected in other ways.
By SARA KUGLER
Associated Press Writer

NEW YORK – Thunder booms, a car backfires, a door slams and Christine Gillies' heart jumps. Everyday noises have caused waves of anxiety since an airliner crashed into the World Trade Center four stories above her.

"It's almost like there was life before the trade center and now there's life after, like two chapters," said Gillies, who escaped with co-workers down a stairwell from the 87th floor of the north tower, her mouth covered with wet napkins as smoke began to seep in.

Gillies, 27, is among those who describe themselves as "doing fine" since Sept. 11 – though most still have nightmares, and admit a loud city truck or balloon pop can make them jump to their feet.

That is one symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder that many people are showing, experts say.

"Loud noises are one stimuli of what they went through. They know what it is but they still react with the same internal reaction," said Russell J. Kormann, associate director of the post-traumatic stress disorder program at the Rutgers University Anxiety Disorder Clinic.

"They won't say 'Oh my God it's another terrorist attack,' but it comes back to that hypersensitivity and a loud noise just stimulates that anxiety all over again," Kormann said.

An estimated 18,000 people escaped the trade center, thousands more witnessed the horror from the ground, and countless others, from relief workers to television viewers, were affected in other ways.

Adam Mayblum, 36, recently was having dinner near a subway station when a train went by.

"The place started to rumble a little bit and that upset me," said Mayblum, who escaped down a stairwell of the trade center with a wet piece of his T-shirt tied around his face. "It's not like I ran away crying, but I felt myself being a little caught off guard."

The disorder can develop after experiencing a life-threatening event, such as combat, a natural disaster, terrorism or a violent personal assault. It is treatable, but symptoms can persist.

Statistics on mental health services related to the aftermath of Sept. 11 are preliminary and much of the available data does not focus on post-traumatic stress. Still it gives a hint of the scope of the disorder.

Terry Keane, director of the National Center for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in Boston, estimates 20 to 30 percent of those directly affected, such as victims' relatives and people who escaped the burning towers, will suffer from the disorder.

In New York City, the number of counseling sessions grew by more than 20 percent after the attacks, according to data prepared for a Columbia University study. And the Center for Mental Health Services has estimated that 1.5 million New Yorkers will eventually need therapy for terror-induced psychological problems.

Experts estimate that a quarter or more of those affected may have symptoms severe enough to interfere with everyday life months and even years later.

Val Schnurr, 20, was studying in the library at Columbine High School when Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold launched their attack on April 20, 1999, killing 13 people before committing suicide.

Schnurr was shot nine times in the chest and upper torso as she crouched beneath a table, next to her friend Lauren Townsend, 18, who was killed.

Schnurr said post-traumatic stress is "something I still fight on a daily basis."

"A lot of little things kind of tick me off. Cars backfiring, balloons popping bring back a lot of memories," said Schnurr, now studying psychology at an Arizona college. "There's still a lot of the hurt and a lot of that fear is still there."

More than six years after Susan Urbach, 45, was caught in a shower of rubble from the truck bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City, she still suffers from the disorder.

"The sound of those horrible spring thunderstorms when the thunder rattles your windows – that's the closest thing the bomb sounds like," she said. "And I have gone from a deep sleep to up on my feet going, 'Oh my God."'

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On the Net:

National Center for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: www.ncptsd.org/index.html

Rutgers College Counseling Center: www.rci.rutgers.edu/~rccc/otherser.html

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