Whether up close or from afar, anyone who was alive and witnessed the tragic events of September 11, 2001 unfold shares a unique bond created through that day of terror and heartbreak.
"When we have a strong, emotional situation a lot of the activity in the brain is also in that same area where memories tend to be formed," says Dr. Quentin Gabor, a psychiatrist on faculty in the department of psychiatry at the University of Minnesota. "When there's an emotionally charged experience sometimes we remember a lot of the details about that situation in really vivid ways."
When it comes to a society-wide shared trauma, Dr. Gabor says 9/11 was unique in the sense that the United States had not seen that level of destruction on its home soil since the attack on Pearl Harbor, or even the Civil or Revolutionary wars.
"For the most part when you look for other similar traumas, you're kind of looking at natural disasters," Dr. Gabor added.
One of the collective traumas experienced by Americans on September 11, 2001 came from the generational realization that a level of destruction never seen before was possible in the United States.
"I think it did bring the reality of trauma into many more peoples' lives than up until that point most Americans were used to."
According to the World Trade Center Health Registry, up to to 20% of adults directly exposed to the disaster or injured in the attack had PTSD symptoms five to six years after the attack. That rate was four times higher than the general population.
On the ten year anniversary of the attacks, 15% of Registry enrollees reported depression and 10% reported both depression and PTSD.
Among the registry's enrollees were 31,000 rescue personnel, including nearly 4,000 police officers and more than 3,000 firefighters and 2,000 NYC sanitation workers.
"I think the nation as a whole was sympathetic to the idea that first responders, survivors, and family members of those who died or were severely hurt really deserved good care and good supports," Dr. Gabor said. "There really was a community grassroots effort to try to support those folks in a number of different ways."
The two decades since September 11, 2001 have seen more advocates speaking out about the importance of addressing and normalizing mental health.
"If that trauma happens when we're young, it may shape our understanding of the way things are, and it may happen when one is a young adult, or an older adult," Dr. Gabor said. "With a variety of different approaches, if we're able to move through that there's a potential to have a full, happy and healthy life that includes some improvement and growth at some level. Sometimes it is impossible for someone to move past that by simply pulling themselves up by their bootstraps."
More information and tips regarding PTSD is available through the National Institute of Mental Health. The information is available for children, teens, and adults who through physical or sexual assault, abuse, accident, disaster, war or combat, or other serious events.
"If we can treat each other with respect and kindness, I think we can get through almost anything."
