Stress reactions of the general population after the terrorist attacks of S11, 2001 (USA) and M11, 2004 (Madrid, Spain): Myths and realities

Abstract

This paper deals with a critical review of the research done on the psychological reactions to the attacks of S11, 2001 in USA and M11, 2004 in Madrid. Although mental health professionals and public health policy makers expressed many alarming warnings, the psychopathological effects of these events on the general population have been relatively scarce, and, besides, for the grat majority of the people, have been transient. It is probable that this difference between the expectations and the concrete results is caused by the prevalence of explanatory models of Psychology, which are based more on prejudices about the vulnerability of human beings to adversity, thus ignoring that resilience is probably the most common response While many studies have found relatively high immediate stress rates following those events in the general populations, it is probable that these rates are overestimated and that they have little cluical significance. In this connection, his paper the serious methodological and conceptual limitations in the measurement and evaluation of human responses to traumatic situations are discussed, as well as the conceptual limitations of the definition of the current classification systems DSM and ICD. Finally, the consequences of these limitations in the design of the surveys on the reactions to traumatic experiences and in the planning of prevention and intervention procedures for fature similar situations are analysed.