Order 623689: psyc431

Reply to the two students 50 words each..

FIRST STUDENT

Kayla Jensen(Nov 9, 2017 11:23 PM)- Read by: 9

 Reply

Hello Class,

 

I found this article to be very interesting. I was too young to remember 9/11 when it happened but I have been divorced. I remember the struggles, the anger, the sadness, and the stress. I have never been in the military or any type of position, so I find it hard to understand what John was feeling. I relate a lot more with Johns Ex-wife and her struggles. What she watched her husband go through and then leave her family must have been hard. After reading the article I think John did have many psychological struggles. He probably felt guilt and helpless to help his co-workers and survivors. Survivors guilt can cause and immense amount of pain and sorrow. I think the problem is how long the trauma continued for. Even after the incident was cleaned up there were funerals, memorials, and stories everywhere. It is hard to get over a traumatic even when you are constantly reminded of it. I think John did begin to relate with Debbie more than Susan because they both suffered from the trauma. She lost her husband and he lost many of his co-workers. Both of them felt helpless to help survivors. In some odd way John was able to connect better with Debbie than his wife. Or maybe it was his strange way of trying to help his fallen co-workers. He stepped in and took care of their family, but he forgot about his own. I have always struggled with the concept of leaving your family for another. In some situations, I am sure it works out for the best but in this case, I simply do not personally understand. The best way to reduce these kind of events is less exposure to trauma. Since many firefighters and rescue workers worked over their 12 hours shift they were over exposed to the traumatic incident. They then went home to hear more about the incident and see people that lost their loved ones. It was a continuous exposure to trauma whether they were in the “Pit” or on a day off. They still attended memorials and saw friends that lost loved ones. The main course concept we can apply to this article is survivors guilt. People begin to feel guilty if they survive an incident, but others do not. They start to think about what they could have done differently to save them.

Kayla J.

SECOND STUDENT

Nicholas Capko(Nov 11, 2017 2:27 AM)- Read by: 8

 Reply

Our Nation will always remember the sacrifice many emergency response personnel gave on September 11, 2001.  Not only for those who were killed, but for those whose lives were changed forever battling mental health challenges, marital issues, and in some cases, even physical injuries.  In the article, "One Very Tangled Post-911 Affair," we learn about the many firefighters who left their spouses for other widows of victims from 9/11.  The story focuses on the story of a firefighter, John Zazulka, who struggled mentally with the mental recovery following 9/11.  He left his wife for the widow of another fireman who was killed.  Perhaps survivors guilt was a major contributor to his decision, but I believe a lot of these stories can be attributed to the lack of therapy for survivors and family members and utilizing firefighters who were fighting their own personal demons themselves from the attack as recovery tools for widows (Dominus, 2004).  Women who lost their husbands are searching for a way to make things back to normal again, and the closest thing would be to marry a fireman who held the same career and likely similar lifestyle as their fallen husbands.  

On the other hand, people deal with surviving traumatic events very differently.  Being so close to death and so close to being reminded of mortality leaves some with the mindset that life is short and so why live unhappily?  This suggests some of them were unhappy with certain aspects of their marriages, and therefore they decided to make a bold move to divorce their spouse.  

Nick

Reference:

Dominus, S (2004). One Very Tangled Post - 9/11 Affair.  The New York Times.  May 23, 2004.  Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/23/magazine/one-very-tangled-post-9-11-affair.html?_r=0.