ABSTRACT
The involvement of mental health professionals in the relief efforts following 9/11 raises an important question about what constitutes "normal" reactions to trauma and disasters. Trauma survivors are quite psychologically devastated and lack the energy to attend to the practical matters of daily life and survival. The panoply of emotional symptoms associated with the aftermath of traumas deserves attention not only from the perspective of reducing suffering but also because the symptoms may become secondary stressors in themselves. This chapter describes the role of mental health professionals following disasters by examining the physical substrate for responses to stressful and traumatic events. The visceral feeling of fear and its concomitant neurobiological response signals people to run; the attendant, rapid physical changes provide the resources with which to act on this aversive feeling. Symptoms that appear consistent with post-traumatic stress disorder are very common in the immediate period following a traumatic event.
