There may never be a complete understanding of all of the events that occurred on September 11, 2001. This paper is not an attempt to explain that day. Rather, it is an explanation of the different types of interdisciplinary services that help surviving victims and others in need understand and cope with the events of the horrific day. By interdisciplinary services, I mean services that are not bound under a single profession, but involve human services, medical, first responders, military, psychiatric, and education. Because of the wide impact of destruction and vast numbers affected by the tragedy that day, this comprehensive structure is needed to best serve the public (Interdisciplinary, 2012).
The human services fields were heavily involved in the post 9/11 treatment of many people, including those affected both directly and indirectly by the disaster. Social workers, therapists, psychologists, psychiatrists, and other therapists estimated that 67% of people affected by the violence were impaired. Medical personnel in New York City were pushed to their limits treating emergency responders who suffered complications from inhalants at Ground Zero. The first responders suffered both physically and mentally from the ordeal of the initial day and the days and weeks of the relief and recovery efforts. Military personnel were needed to restore order in New York from the looting and in the recovery efforts. Education professionals were trying to answer questions from the children in their classrooms. From friends and family members of the victims to people that were not even directly connected to the tragedy, thousands of people suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, dissociate disorder, mood disorder, depression, anxiety, and panic attacks. Many were so emotionally scarred that they were never able to return to life as they had known it before 9/11, permanently emotionally disabled, changed forever. (Tosone, C., McTighe, J. P., Bauwens, J., & Naturale, A., 2011).
“More than monuments, that will be the legacy of 9/11 - a legacy of firefighters who walked into fire and soldiers who signed up to serve; of workers who raised new towers, citizens who faced down fear, and children who realized the dreams of their parents. It will be said of us that we kept that faith; that we took a painful blow, and emerged stronger” (Obama, n.d.).
References
Interdisciplinary. (n.d.). Dictionary. Retrieved from:
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/interdisciplinary?s=t
Obama, B. (n.d.). President Barack Obama Remarks on the 10th Anniversary of 9/11.
FDHC Political Transcripts.
Tosone, C., McTighe, J. P., Bauwens, J., & Naturale, A. (2011). Shared traumatic stress and the
long-term impact of 9/11 on Manhattan clinicians. Journal Of Traumatic Stress, 24(5),
546-552. doi:10.1002/jts.20686
