January 2002 • Volume 8 • Number 1
Perception of anxiety across the U.S.
Are people suffering from increased anxiety since Sept. 11? "Not out here. Not my patients," says Leonard Fromer, M.D., who has a family practice in Santa Monica, Calif. His assessment lends support to the theory that Americans' psychological responses have been proportional to their distance from New York City.
More patients have asked about bioterrorism issues, Fromer said, "but in terms of people saying, 'I can't tell why, I'm more fearful than normal' -- I haven't seen that."
A Midwest physician concurs in part: "People have been affected by the threat, the changes in their lives and the fear, but not to the same degree as people who have been personally affected by it," said FP Larry Rues, M.D., residency program director of Goppert Family Care Center in Kansas City, Mo. "It isn't a personal loss for most."
But personal losses have been staggering in the East. Stress is still high, and physicians and patients alike are losing sleep over it, said FP Joseph Wiedemer, M.D., of Stockton, N.J.
The challenge is twofold, he said: People who were displaced by the terrorist attacks are now moving back and are reliving the event or realizing the destruction for the first time, he said. And then there's the fear over anthrax; one post office that was affected is just 30 minutes from his practice. On a scale from 1 to 10, Wiedemer said the stress level at his office during the height of the anthrax scare was a high 8 or 9. "We're looked to as physicians to provide professional answers" to concerns over anthrax, he said, and there's still uncertainty.
He said he realizes the stress has abated in other parts of the country, and he sees this as a healthy sign. "We've all gone through the shock, anger and disbelief, and now it's time to move on," he said.
FP Report is published by the AAFP News Department.
Copyright © 2002 by American Academy of Family Physicians.
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