The secondary victims
You don’t need to personally experience trauma to be a victim of it. “It’s not unusual to find PTSD in inner-city kids who may have seen their friends shot in school or on the basketball court,” Weidman says.

“There are several psychologists who feel 9/11 gave the entire country a case of PTSD,” says Thomas J. Berger, Ph.D., chairman of Vietnam Veterans of America’s National PTSD & Substance Abuse Committee.

A study of a cross-section of women at the University of Tennessee conducted four to six months after 9/11 found 61% were still distressed. They were coping with emotional problems that included fear, anger, distrust, and powerlessness.

Another study published last spring by Columbia University and the New York State Psychiatric Institute found that 1 in 5 children in the families of emergency medical technicians were among the most traumatized after 9/11.

Recognizing the problem
The Government Accountability Office studied the effects of 9/11 on people in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. Its 2004 report to Congress noted a 29% increase in the use of cigarettes, alcohol, or marijuana five to eight weeks after the attacks— and the numbers stayed about the same six months later.

One of the leading problems relating to PTSD is how often is it unrecognized or misdiagnosed. According to the NIMH, other symptoms of PTSD include headaches, stomach problems, dizziness, chest pain, and sleep problems. While the physical problems may be treated, they are rarely recognized as symptoms of PTSD.

The same holds true for the emotional/mental problems caused by PTSD. Nightmares about, and flashbacks to, the event are common. Feelings of guilt, depression, and irrational outbursts of anger are just a few other issues which people with PTSD may experience.

America’s problem
According to the National Center for Victims of Crime, women with rape- related PTSD may also become hyper-alert, oversensitive to all sorts of sounds and images. They often become socially withdrawn, experiencing a sense of “feeling numb.”

No one seems to know exactly how much PTSD costs this country every year. Although feelings of patriotism rose after 9/11, so did bigotry, according to the 2003 University of Tennessee study. The children not treated today could become the drug addicts of tomorrow.

PTSD can lead to alcoholism, drug addiction, and domestic violence, thus creating a need for more police,social workers, lawyers, and prisons. It can cause lost productivity among workers. And it can lead to health problems that may strain public and private insurance programs and facilities.

“PTSD is still sadly underfunded. It is one of the great unrecognized and unaddressed public health issues in this country,” Weidman says.

Ultimately, he adds, PTSD needs to be recognized as America’s problem. Partly because events like Katrina and 9/11 can affect people all across the country, and partly because it can happen to anyone, anytime.