Modern Terrorism and Psychological Trauma

Modern Terrorism and Psychological Trauma brings together a rich collection of insightful studies by leading psychiatrists, psychologists, and other mental-health professionals, providing readers with a deep understanding of the nature of psychological trauma induced by modern terrorism.

Brian Trappler, a renowned psychiatrist specializing in treating traumatized patients, organizes the literature anew such that this volume can explain how terrorist-induced psychological trauma may be treated in the therapeutic setting to achieve the most rapid and enduring alleviation of symptoms from both short-term and long-term exposure to terrorism, especially posttraumatic stress disorder.

Through studies focusing on victims of terrorism in America on 9/11 and afterward in England, Spain, Israel, and other countries, as well as studies of pre-9/11 victims, especially Holocaust survivors, this anthology explains how mental-health professionals conceptualize and analyze the nature of terror-induced psychological trauma at both the individual and the community level, and why their research findings have profound treatment implications for men and women of every age, socioeconomic status, religion, nationality, and ethnic background.

Modern Terrorism and Psychological Trauma is more than an invaluable primer, however, because Dr. Trappler organizes the seminal literature anew based on his original theoretical perspective, which approaches the spectrum of psychological trauma as a multi-layered hybrid of events and uses a novel, multi-dimensional model to explain the entire spectrum of psychopathology related to terrorism. In its simplest form, the Trappler model posits that most victims have some stress-related symptoms following exposure to a discrete terrorist attack, while fewer victims are left with enduring symptoms of classic PTSD. The more complex form of trauma pathology evolves from a prolonged relationship between the victim and the perpetrator. Here Dr. Trappler deviates from PTSD reductionism and explores object-relations and Jungian theories to explain the insidious transformative effect of “continuous terror” on the victim.