tavie.com

Although I understand the necessity for many people of talking, reflecting and remembering, I prefer to go with my repression-therapy approach with regards to tomorrow's anniversary:

The new research is rooted in part in the experience of Sept. 11, when swarms of therapists descended on New York City after the twin towers fell. There were, by some estimates, three shrinks for every victim, which is itself an image you might want to repress, the bearded, the beatnik, the softly empathic all gathered round the survivors urging talk talk talk. ''And what happened,'' says Richard Gist, a community psychologist and trauma researcher who, along with a growing number of colleagues, has become highly critical of these debriefing procedures, ''is some people got worse. They were either unhelped or retraumatized by our interventions.'' Gist, who is an associate professor at the University of Missouri and who has been on hand to help with disasters from the collapse of the Hyatt Regency pedestrian skywalks in Kansas City, Mo., in 1981 to the United Airlines crash in Sioux City, Iowa, in 1989, has had time to develop his thoughts regarding how, or how not, to help in times of terror. ''Basically, all these therapists run down to the scene, and there's a lot of grunting and groaning and encouraging people to review what they saw, and then the survivors get worse. I've been saying for years, 'Is it any surprise that if you keep leading people to the edge of a cliff they eventually fall over?''' (from the linked article, which is available only to NYTimes.com subscribers)

I just don't care to dwell on it. Sure, I could watch news coverage, read websites, look at horrible pictures, and work myself into a good, frothy mess, but why would I want to do that to myself?

Unfortunately, I'll largely be forced to spend the day experiencing others' bruise-pressing. In fact, my Latin professor promised that we'll spend tomorrow's class reading aloud a passage about remembering the dead.

Swell.

Why are you in Tavie's head? 11:13 PM | shower me with attention