Tampabay: A month later, a jittery nation

"I'm very, very fearful," he says, washing a purple Monte Carlo on 18th Avenue S. "You never know when those terrorists will pull off another attack. We all should be worried."

A month to the day after the events of Sept. 11, many people's nerves are still stretched tight. When someone attacked a Greyhound bus driver in Tennessee, when a Russian plane crashed into the Black Sea, when a mentally ill man went berserk on a flight to Chicago -- in these cases and others, Americans wondered whether the dreaded second wave had begun.

The anthrax scare in Lantana may be the best example of an anxiety-inducing event with no proven connection to the tragedies.

"We're all walking alarm clocks that could go off at any time," says Charles Figley, a director of the Traumatology Institute at Florida State University.

"Before Sept. 11, we assumed life was okay. We were all safe in America. Then, we realized how close (to disaster) we had always been," Figley says. "Now, people are not only worrying about the things that might happen in the future. They're also worrying about what might have happened in the past."

All of which, he said, makes it difficult to deal with the present.

"(Osama bin Laden) is winning the war already, to the extent that we're all afraid. Anxiety affects everything we do."

Americans' acute awareness of the threat of terrorism was apparent on Oct. 8, when a man with a history of mental illness rushed the cockpit during a flight from Los Angeles to Chicago.

The man screamed that the plane was going to crash into the Sears Tower. Six of the passengers, including the man's father, tackled him, but not before the plane was briefly jarred into a frightening dip. The passengers restrained the man as two fighter jets escorted the flight into O'Hare.

For others, fear can be paralyzing. At the car wash where Green works, Willie Sumlin hasn't been able to leave his radio in a month. He has it with him while he watches his buddies washing cars and he carries it home after dark, with whatever is left of his cigarettes.

"All the time I'm home, CNN is on. I keep waiting and waiting for something big to happen," says Sumlin, 45. "I think about it all the time. Gets me so mad I can't think of much else."

As people take in more and more news, devouring everything that could be associated with the war, they learn about events they might not have cared about before, Figley says. They fear that everything could be tied to terrorism and even fabricate links themselves. All this makes them more and more paranoid, depressed and scared.

Such responses trigger other fears, memories of old tensions, even physical reactions: sore necks, backs, headaches.

"When we're threatened, we need to know first what happened. Then why it happened. Then what if something else might happen," Figley says. "We can't get any answers here. So we can't get any relief.

"That's why we tend to overreact and inappropriately link things together."

In traumatic times, Figley says, people need a grand theory.

"We're trying to find some way of exerting mastery over a world we no longer understand. Whether it's Nostradamus' predictions or Jerry Falwell's thesis that God is punishing us, or just straight religion, we need some system to comfort us," he says. "We're desperate for answers. Any answers. Without them, there is no real antidote for our anxieties."

President Bush has urged Americans to get back to normal, but stay on alert. It's a psychological tightrope -- an almost impossible balance for most Americans.

"Broadcasting Osama Bin Laden's full text and videos across the world's airwaves was unprecedented in a war," Figley says. "Usually, you don't want to give the enemy a platform. Especially not like that."

So far, the fear that every major news event is related to terrorism has ended the same way: When people find out a certain tragedy wasn't terrorism after all, they feel relieved.

But six people still died on the Tennessee bus; 78 on the Russian plane; 118 at the airport where two planes collided in Milan, Italy.

"People may feel guilty about being relieved when so many people are dead. And that makes things worse," says Figley. "Others even may feel guilty about being depressed. What right do I have to be upset when so many others lost so much more?"

As American forces strike targets in Afghanistan, some people say they're less depressed. They don't feel helpless. They have an outlet for their anger.

"I'm ready to get even. I'm not worried. Not here," Bob Bretnall says from the driving range at Twin Brooks Golf Course in St. Petersburg. He's 68, retired after 20 years in the Air Force and 23 as an air-traffic controller. He's wearing white golf shoes, gray draw-string shorts and a white T-shirt with an American flag and the words, "United We Stand."

"My wife and all our neighbors are of the same mindset as me," he says. We're not scared of anything happening here in St. Petersburg."

All those other incidents? The bus crash, the Russian plane, the anthrax?

"Those were just random. No connection. No way."

Many other Americans will continue to feel jittery, violated, sad.

"Even those who thought they were handling the aftermath of the tragedy well may find that, as the month elapses, their state of mind is still fragile," says Dr. Douglas Jacobs, a psychiatry professor at Harvard Medical School.

Jacobs is the founder of National Depression Screening Day, which is today -- which happens to be exactly one month after the terrorist attacks.

As part of the national awareness day, professional counselors will be offering free screenings for depression at 2,000 sites across the country. Help will be available at health care clinics, universities and treatment centers. Around Tampa Bay, stations will be set up in Bradenton, Clearwater, Palm Harbor, St. Petersburg and Tampa.

Call 1-800-520-6373 or log onto www.mentalhealthscreening.org for more information.

In response to the trade center attacks, psychologists have added a new component to the screening. They'll be looking for signs of post-traumatic stress.

"Some of what people are feeling is a normal response to a horrible situation. Other people develop disorders that do require treatment," Jacobs says. "The need now is something we've never experienced before."

Even folks who don't feel overwhelmed or upset should be careful they don't become obsessed with this war, psychologists say.

It's easy to become fixated. The more time we spend missing out on our lives, avoiding our other interests, watching CNN, searching the Internet, thinking and living and tasting the conflict, the more we're afraid we might miss something. So we keep tuning in, spiraling down.

"We all need at least a one-hour break from it every day. Make yourself do something different. Don't let yourself think about it," Figley says.

Take a bike ride. Plant a garden. Throw a ball for your dog.

"Enjoy the relief of even that brief reprieve. It's important," he says. "Right away, you'll feel the joy returning."

-- Times News Researcher Cathy Wos and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

Back to Tampa Bay area news
Back

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright

Special Links

Mary Jo Melone

Howard Troxler

Headlines
From the Times
local news desks