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Most studies relating adverse life events to psychiatric impairment focus on individual-level events — childhood abuse and neglect; current interpersonal relationships; and financial, vocational, and domiciliary stressors. However, macro-events (including terrorism, natural disasters, and wars) also affect mental health. These researchers examined the impact of a macro-event, the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001, in a six-wave, prospective, questionnaire study of 2492 Midwest university employees that had begun in 1996.
The researchers analyzed how distress symptoms and fears regarding future terrorist threats affected subsequent mental distress and drinking; follow-ups continued through 2005. In 2003, the percentages of respondents wh…