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To
the Editor:
In his speech on Nov. 8, President Bush said, "The
moment the second plane hit the second building, when we
knew it was a terrorist attack, many felt that our lives
would never be the same" (front page, Nov. 9).
Indeed, these events have disrupted our illusion of national
safety. Our unrealistic belief that terrorism could not
happen here has been replaced by anxiety that homicidal
terrorist attacks could happen to anyone, any time, anywhere.
Returning to the way things were is no longer an option.
We need a new mental framework to reconcile the president's
advice to be more alert yet simultaneously live a normal
life.
Our committee of psychiatrists believes that the challenge
is to forge a national and personal reality that acknowledges
the threat of terrorism without becoming paralyzed or overreacting.
This is a process. We must recognize and accept our vulnerability
while transforming anxiety into attentiveness, and helplessness
into effective activity. Adaptation will require developing
a new national self- image, less simplistic, less grandiose,
but better suited to a changed world.
REBECCA
DULIT, M.D.
Chairwoman
Committee on Psychopathology
Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry
White Plains, Nov. 10, 2001
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