Therapy After Terror

"Therapy after Terror examines the impact of the 2001 World Trade Center attack on mental health professionals in New York, and on the field of mental health. The events of 9/11 quickly were identified as an unprecedented public mental health crisis, and urgent demands for psychological treatment ensued. In response, thousands of mental health professionals volunteered their services on the scene, while uncounted others provided treatment in their regular clinical settings. Yet few mental health professionals were experienced in assisting survivors of trauma, let alone of a violent catastrophe of this magnitude. Moreover, like other New Yorkers, many therapists were 9/11 victims themselves, if only indirectly." "In addition, Therapy after Terror investigates the social and political dimensions of mental health concepts and practices. Critically analyzing shifting notions of trauma, the subjective aspects of psychiatric diagnosis, the increasing medicalization of behavior, and the state's management of the national mood, this book raises questions concerning the politics of psychotherapy after 9/11."--BOOK JACKET.