Mental Health Consequences of Bioterrorism

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The anthrax attacks subsequent to September 11, 2001 ushered in a new2 era of bioterrorism threat in the United States. This new area has arrived with no existing systematic database on the mental health effects of bioterrorism to guide our nation's response to it. In developing interventions to address psychological effects of bioterrorism, workers and policymakers can at best only extrapolate from information about other kinds of terrorism and other types of disasters, which may not fit the situation. In the special form of stealth terrorism that makes bioterrorism unique, victims often don't know their exposure status. This disarticulates psychological and behavior response from individuals' perceived exposure to the agent. As a result, mental health risks to individuals from bioterrorism are unpredictable because the risk follows unknown variables other than exposure that are not well understood. Our highly experienced disaster research team proposes to establish new research on the mental health effects of the recent bioterrorism attacks on Capitol Hill. We are unique positioned to respond to a narrow window of access to the exposed Capitol Hill population during the annual period of relative legislative quiet, when the affected population is most available to participate in research. This proposed one-year study will start by conducting focus groups with Capitol Hill office staff to identify the relevant issues for study. The information thus obtained will be used to develop interviews about the mental health effects of bioterrorism, to be administered to a random sample of 200 staff workers across Capitol Hill. This research will yield valuable information on mental health responses to bioterrorism and will provide an empirical basis for helping professionals responding to the mental health issues of the affected victims of this and future incidents.