Ed Wood "The Right Stuff" Published Aug. 21, 2002

Sat what?

Some months ago, I wrote an article in which I listed things that we have too many of. Things like 24-hour news broadcasts, and "official" highway department signs. (Ever count the number of highway signs and various types of metal or plastic posts per mile along any of our interstate highways? You'd be amazed!) Well, today I am adding another category: government psychiatrists.

In an article soon to be published in the prestigious Journal of the American Medical Association, the Veterans Administrations National Center for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder has concluded that on the day the World Trade Centers were bombed, the probable rate of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) among adults in New York City was 11 percent, compared to only 4 percent for the nation as a whole. Imagine that. And just what is PTSD? Well, that's how you feel when you have just had the bejeebers scared out of you!

Furthermore, after an extensive study of more than 2,300 individuals nationwide, Dr. William Schlenger, lead author of the study, has determined that those closest to the attack were the scaredest! But he admits that his estimate may not be entirely accurate because, "after adjusting for factors like sex, age and education, people in New York were nearly three times more likely than those elsewhere in the country to report symptoms of the condition."

Dr. Terrance Keane, a professor of psychiatry at Boston's University School of Medicine, says this is good news! It indicates that "only the most directly affected by the assault are suffering psychologically." Dr. Eric Braverman of PATH Medical, a New York City clinic, confirms that "the psychological impact of a traumatic event is always felt strongest in the immediate area where the incident occurred."

I'm sure glad we got that settled. Wonder how many hundreds of thousands of our tax dollars that one cost us?

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Ed Wood is a resident of Sparta, TN. His column is published each Wednesday in the Crossville Chronicle.