The Oklahoma City bombing, intentional crashing of airliners on September 11, 2001, and anthrax attacks in the fall of 2001 have made Americans acutely aware of the impacts of terrorism. These events and continued threats of terrorism have raised questions about the impact on the psychological health of the nation and how well the public health infrastructure is able to meet the psychological needs that will likely result. Preparing for the Psychological Consequences of Terrorism highlights some of the critical issues in responding to the psychological needs that result from terrorism and provides possible options for intervention. The committee offers an example for a public health strategy that may serve as a base from which plans to prevent and respond to the psychological consequences of a variety of terrorism events can be formulated. The report includes recommendations for the training and education of service providers, ensuring appropriate guidelines for the protection of service providers, and developing public health surveillance for preevent, event, and postevent factors related to psychological consequences.

Contents

• THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES
• COMMITTEE ON RESPONDING TO THE PSYCHOLOGICAL CONSEQUENCES OF TERRORISM
• Reviewers
• Acknowledgments
• Preface
• Executive Summary
• 1. Introduction: Rationale for a Public Health Response to the Psychological Consequences of Terrorism
  • CHARGE TO THE COMMITTEE
  • TERRORISM AND THE PUBLIC'S HEALTH: THE NEED FOR A PUBLIC HEALTH RESPONSE TO THE PSYCHOLOGICAL CONSEQUENCES OF TERRORISM
  • CONTENT AND STRUCTURE OF THE REPORT
• 2. Understanding the Psychological Consequences of Traumatic Events, Disasters, and Terrorism
  • TRAUMATIC EVENTS
  • DISASTERS
  • TERRORISM
  • RESEARCH CHALLENGES AND NEEDS
  • SUMMARY
• 3. Current Infrastructure in the United States for Responding to the Psychological Consequences of Terrorism
  • FEDERAL GOVERNMENT SYSTEMS FOR RESPONSE
  • STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT SYSTEMS FOR RESPONSE
  • PRIVATE SECTOR SYSTEMS FOR RESPONSE
  • CAPACITY OF THE INFRASTRUCTURE TO RESPOND TO THE PSYCHOLOGICAL CONSEQUENCES OF TERRORISM
  • GAPS IN THE CURRENT INFRASTRUCTURE
  • SUMMARY
• 4. Developing Strategies for Minimizing the Psychological Consequences of Terrorism Through Prevention, Intervention, and Health Promotion
  • APPLICATION OF THE HADDON MATRIX
  • PRE-EVENT PHASE
  • EVENT PHASE
  • POST-EVENT PHASE
  • DESIRED END RESULTS
  • APPLICATION OF THE EXAMPLE PUBLIC HEALTH STRATEGY
• 5. Conclusions and Recommendations for Effective Prevention and Response
  • FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
• References
• A Data Sources and Methods
• B Committee and Staff Biographies

Support for this project was provided by the Institute of Medicine, and the National Institute of Mental Health and Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The views presented in this report are those of the Institute of Medicine Committee on Responding to the Psychological Consequences of Terrorism and are not necessarily those of the funding agencies.

NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.