TWO WINGS AND A PRAYER: Trauma of near-death

The crash-landing into the Hudson River is likely to

crystallize in the minds of crew and passengers as a close encounter with

death, an experience that can produce profound physiological and psychological

effects, according to disaster research and a leading expert who counseled 9/11

survivors.

"We react very strongly to trauma because it shatters one of our

fundamental beliefs about life: that we are basically secure," said Dr. Alan

Manevitz, a clinical associate professor of psychiatry at Weill Cornell College

of Medicine in Manhattan.

When brushing so close against death, Manevitz added, "You develop an acute

traumatic reaction." Even after reaching safety, "your mind holds on to the

trauma very strongly," he said.

Manevitz counseled many people who survived the collapse of the Twin Towers

in 2001 and later he counseled survivors of Hurricane Katrina and the terror

attack in Mumbai.

A flurry of scientific studies following the World Trade Center attacks

revealed that countless survivors experienced post-traumatic stress syndrome.

Medical investigators found the same to be true for many Katrina survivors.

It is still far too early to tell whether post-traumatic stress syndrome

will affect any of the 155 people aboard the jet in yesterday's belly landing

on the Hudson, Manevitz said, because it takes months to years for the

condition to manifest itself. However, there are likely immediate reactions

that are very pronounced.

"Everyone can have an acute stress reaction," he said of a combined

psychological and physiological response to what passengers and crew probably

perceived as a close encounter with death.

Acute stress, he said, is driven by fear. "You release epinephrine and

norepinephrine from the medulla of the adrenal glands," Manevitz said of two

leading "fight or flight" hormones.

Following that can be any one of a number of reactions - feeling shocked or

dazed, numb, exhilarated or even overwhelmingly relieved.

Post-traumatic stress disorder takes at least two months to occur. "And you

know when that's happening," Manevitz said, listing a range of symptoms from

intrusive memories, difficulty falling asleep, flashbacks and avoidance of

people or situations that make you recall the traumatizing incident.

"But this is really a story with a happy ending - even the pilot was a

hero," Manevitz said.