Resilient Nation to Search for Safety in Sameness as Recovery from Sept. 11 Continues

Many Americans are likely to equate sameness with safety and, as a result, will be less likely to move from their homes during the year following the deadly terrorist attacks, predicts a University of Alabama psychology professor who has expertise in trauma and survival.

“I think people will move less in the coming year,” said Dr. Jerome Rosenberg, an associate professor in psychology and New College. “I think people will feel a sense that sameness is related to security, and I think people will want to be close to their families.”

The extent to which people will remain troubled in 2002 by fears of anthrax poisoning or other copycat threats will vary among individuals, Rosenberg said. “I think it will be a balance between many Americans who will ignore it, those who live with it, and those who will scale back their lives in many ways because of it.”

Even if the anthrax mystery is solved and no terrorist activity is immediately visible, 2002 will be different. “The nature of American society is an enormous degree of resiliency,” the UA psychologist said. But, the severity of the Sept. 11 attacks left deep psychological wounds, which, will improve, but never completely heal.

“We will never be the same,” Rosenberg said. “We will never see the world the same way. What will help is when the final body has been found and the last funeral held. But, no plane will ever crash again that we will not be suspicious that it is a terrorist attack.”

While selling the idea that the United States’ military was fighting a battle between ‘good’ and ‘evil’ was an effective political strategy in building initial support, continued efforts to “make this our holy war” will likely backfire in coming months, Rosenberg said. “I think we will pay the price for making it a religious-based war, and that will be a major source of problems now and for years to come.

“People are capable of doing extraordinarily good things,” Rosenberg added. In crisis situations, heroic deeds are often performed, he said. “We go to people in need. That will continue next year, in spite of everything. As long as we hold onto this, there is hope for optimism.”

Dr. Jerome Rosenberg can be reached at 205/348-1918 or 205/348-8414 (office), 205/339-3051 (home) or jrosenbe@bama.ua.edu.