Althouse: Therapists who flooded NYC to help 9/11 survivors didn't help too much.

July 31, 2011

Therapists who flooded NYC to help 9/11 survivors didn't help too much.

But these "trauma tourists" did feel good about themselves.

19 comments:

rhhardin said...: It left schools with a therapist shortage.

Carlin said when 3 kids died in his school, it was made part of math class.

36 students in the class, three die, how many are left.; 7/31/11, 7:42 AM
test said...: The program mission was to fund otherwise unemployable leftists. Mission accomplished.; 7/31/11, 8:12 AM
Beta Rube said...: Are there altruistic therapists in Madison helping folks cope with the trauma of having Republicans around?; 7/31/11, 8:36 AM
TosaGuy said...: SNL Jeopardy Sean Connery, "I'll take The Rapists for #200, Alex."

SNL Jeopardy Alex Trebek," That's therapists."; 7/31/11, 9:14 AM
edutcher said...: Grief counselors are in the same racket as diversity consultants.

rhhardin said...

It left schools with a therapist shortage.

Carlin said when 3 kids died in his school, it was made part of math class.

36 students in the class, three die, how many are left.

In colonial days, there were math problems exactly like that, except it was a tree that fell on them, or an Indian attack, or something.; 7/31/11, 9:42 AM
Tim said...: Duh. Therapy is never about the "patient," it's always about the therapist.

Doesn't everybody know that by now?; 7/31/11, 10:00 AM
The Crack Emcee said...: Hey - Prince Charles feels great about the "therapies" he promotes, too. Doesn't actually help anyone, but - damn - does he feel good.

I betcha the patients being offered "help" would've felt better if we gave them all ball-peen hammers and let them go after the therapists.

I know I would've anyway,...; 7/31/11, 10:12 AM
Cedarford said...: The general public has had things asserted to them in disasters or acts of violence that aren't very true.
With the WTC mess the best recent example, along with the Noble Victims of Katrina.

1. People feel so much better and recover faster from death and ruinage all around them if only a therapist flies in from 2,000 miles away and gives them nurturing hugs.

2. No one recovers from the loss of loved one unless society spends any price to assure that the Sacred Remains of the Departed...Needed to Achieve Emotional CLosure and Healing....are located.

3. People don't "really" want perps punished...because killing a murderer or enemy "never brings the dead person back". (Nor does imprisonment or giving the murderer 20 million dollars...two equally irrelevant alternatives)

4. All the lawyer elites and Hero cops wanted to make the the scene of enemy attack a "crime scene" under their control to "process evidence and help obtain convictions". Rudy Giuiani was one of the worst for bringing this mentality to the fore...and we were stuck for almost another decade of a Clintonesque "law enforcement mentality" in dealing with enemy Islamoids.

5. Heroes and victims of a bid deal disaster are Entitled to whatever money and perks they demand.; 7/31/11, 10:16 AM
ndspinelli said...: Many of the people in NYC suffered from PTSD. That is a tough nut. There is a remedy called EMDR[Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing]. It works but is not widely accepted. The Pentagon has made is a primary therapy for PTSD. But, many therapists don't know how to implement it and reject it. I suffered from PTSD and it was incredibly effective. I would bet many of these do gooders didn't use it because although it has been used since the 1970's, it has just gotten associations approval in the past 5-6 years.; 7/31/11, 10:25 AM
Sydney said...: Heh, I remember when this was going on. The medical journals were full of hastily retrieved articles about PTSD and the importance of immediate counselling. And I remember the articles in the papers about the grief counsellors who were johnny-on-the-spot to provided emergency counselling. At the time, I thought more good was probably being done by the volunteers who went down to help pick up the mess and paint and clean damaged apartments. Talk is over-rated.; 7/31/11, 11:01 AM
Michael K said...: Trauma tourism is always about the "therapists." Haiti was another example. The only useful example I've read about was not a "therapist" but a guy with a restored military vehicle that he drove from Texas to New Orleans right after Katrina. He was able to get the vehicle into a lot of areas to rescue people. He finally left when a few survivors shot at him and tried to rob him.

Other than practical efforts like that, these trauma tourists are useless.; 7/31/11, 12:31 PM
Synova said...: "Trauma tourists."

Brilliant!; 7/31/11, 12:56 PM
Synova said...: Has anyone figured that maybe you're supposed to be messed up after something horrible happens? Maybe you're supposed to be hyper-alert, twitchy, emotional? Maybe you're supposed to go into denial? Maybe you're supposed to carry it for the rest of your life?

Why do we insist that people need to be *cured* from an assault, a rape, the death of a child?

I never understood (being a repressed Nordic) why anyone thought the best response to something truly horrible was to rip open all your defenses and bare your raw nerves to the air. Why not lemon juice while you're at it?; 7/31/11, 1:09 PM
n.n said...: Emotional maturity occurs through confrontation with adversity and development of mitigating behaviors.

As for therapy, it helps to remain engaged with life, including: plants, animals, and people. It is also necessary to become a productive member of society as soon as possible.

As with physical and mental development, the most effective form of therapy occurs when we optimize autonomous actualization. Not only does this promote recognition of our dignity, but we are also more likely to develop and use the tools which are best suited for us now and throughout our life.

Life is an exercise in risk management; and, ultimately, each individual is responsible for defining and living their own life.; 7/31/11, 1:39 PM
Larry J said...: If there were truth in cell phone ringtones, most therapists would be required to use a duck call.; 7/31/11, 3:21 PM
Heart_Collector said...: Some of the MOST FUCKED up people I have ever known have become therapists.; 7/31/11, 7:36 PM
Assistant Village Idiot said...: Baby/bathwater here. I have been a psychiatric social worker on the acute units of a state hospital for over thirty years. I have a pretty fine contempt for many of the therapies and therapists that are supposed to help. I certainly wouldn't have contributed a nickel to random grief counselors being rounded up and shipped to NYC (or any other place where trauma has occurred). They type of people who go on these excursions generally use therapies that have no proven track record, just a tenuous connection to some idea that these therapists like.

We, on the other hand, have too many patients in crisis for too few beds and have to identify what works for people in acute MH emergencies and what doesn't. Hell, even trial-and-error will teach you something in that situation.

OTOH, there is a growing body of knowledge of therapies that do help with PTSD. I am not as sold on EMDR in specific as ndspinelli is, but would gladly agree that reprocessing/reassociation is where the dial is increasingly pointing. Additional problem - in a large-scale trauma, there is currently no accurate form of screening to tell who is going to have trouble and who isn't. So at present, just showing up and having people "process" (hate that word and concept) their experience is useless or damaging. There are some immediate interventions that are mildly protective.; 7/31/11, 8:23 PM
DADvocate said...: But these "trauma tourists" did feel good about themselves.

Most therapists are in the business for the ego trip. Building their own egos is more important than any "therapy" they do.; 7/31/11, 9:16 PM
Peter said...: Wherein we see (yet again) The Agency Problem.

Which is, that although agents are supposed to represent the interests of their clients, they actually (surprise!) represent their own interests.; 8/1/11, 12:40 PM