Whether you reside in the United States, Canada, England, or Italy, there is no doubt that worldwide, the terrorist attack of 9/11 left the whole world stymied.
Recently, we were inundated by media coverage regarding 9 11 recreating a grief loss wave of worldwide sorrow and lending to, perhaps, yet another downswing of depression. Deborah Serani, practicing Psychologist and specialist in the area of trauma and depression treatment sheds light on the reality of the existing percentage of existing PTSD victims and how the “Anniversary Effect” may trigger a general sense of uneasiness, once again. See the attached: http://drdeborahserani.blogspot.com/.
As government officials and Economists strategize about how to pull not only the US, Canada, the United Kingdom and other countries out of respective war debt(s) a sense of panic and loss of hope continues to affect the lay man worldwide. With health care and mental health program budgets being cut every day the common man struggles to maintain a sense of hope in a faltering economy, no matter what country, and in the aftermath of the loss and horror resulting from 9 11. In fact, The Behavioral Medicine Report informs us that currently “Depression affects 121 million worldwide.” (See the attached: http://www.bmedreport.com/archives/30554) and the APA, via an article posted at Mainstay affirms not only this percentage but also enlightens us about further specifics and statistics:
“Depression is among the leading causes of disability worldwide. (World Health Organization)”.
“An estimated 5.8% of men and 9.5% of women world-wide will experience a depressive episode in any given year. (World Health Organization)”.
The harshest statistical reality, however is the notion that: “Fewer than 25 % of those with depression world-wide have access to effective treatments. (World Health Organization).” See the attached link: http://pjstamm.blogspot.com/2006/11/depression-statistics.html.
How, then, does the lay man or woman educate him or herself about how to process the reality of disaster and trauma resulting from personal and national crises?
David Baldwin’s Trauma Information Pages offers insightful articles in the form of Disaster Mental Health Handouts provided by such well known agencies as the American Psychological Association and the American Red Cross for not only the community of mental health workers, but for the common lay man, as well. See the attached: http://www.trauma-pages.com/disaster.php.
In a world that is struggling to maintain a sense of hope mental health education about dealing with disaster relief becomes that much more prevalent.
“When the world says, ‘Give up,’ Hope whispers, ‘Try it one more time’.” ~ Author Unknown
Corinne Isaacs-Frontiero is a self-published author of relationship recovery books: See www.booksonrelationships.net. She also maintains a column as the Toronto Military Children Examiner and the Toronto Mental Health Examiner. See the attached links: http://www.examiner.com/military-children-1-in-toronto/corinne-frontiero and http://www.examiner.com/mental-health-in-toronto/corinne-frontiero. See, also, Corinne’s article “Five R’s of Change Related Stress” @ http://www.examiner.com/mental-health-in-toronto/five-r-s-of-change-related-stress. Corinne may be reached via booksonrelationships@yahoo.com or contacted via Lady Author on Facebook.
Article © of Corinne Isaacs-Frontiero, 2011, with all rights reserved.
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