Mental Health Effects of Bio-Terrorism

Principal Investigator: Carol North, MD, MPE
Funder: National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH R21 MH066628)
Timeframe: Funded: 06/02-05/04
Affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Washington University in St. Louis, and
                    Center for Mental Health Services Research (CMHSR)

Project Staff: David Pollio, Ph.D., Co-PI
                       Deborah Megivern, Ph.D., Co-PI
Participating Organizations: Capitol Hill Senate and House Offices, Washington, D.C.
Project Contact: Carol North, MD, MPE
                            Office Phone: (314) 747-2013
                            E-mail: northc@psychiatry.wustl.edu

Project Update as of 01/22/2008
Stage: Data Collection

Description
    The anthrax attacks subsequent to September 11, 2001 ushered in a new era of bioterrorism threat in the United States.  This new era has arrived with no exiting systematic database on mental health effects of bioterrorism to guide our nation's response to it.  In this special form of stealth terrorism, victims often don't know their exposure status.  This disarticulates the psychological response from the degree of exposure to the agent and reduces the ability to predict mental health risks on an individual basis.  In responding to psychological effects of bioterrorism, at best we must extrapolate from responses to other kinds of terrorism and types of disasters, which may not fit the situation with bioterrorism.  Our highly experienced disaster research team was uniquely positioned to respond to a narrow window of access to the exposed Capitol Hill population and proposed to establish new research on the mental health effects of the recent bioterrorism attacks on Capitol Hill.

Publications

North, C.S., Pollio, D.E., Pfefferbaum, B., Megivern, D., Vythilingam, M., Westerhause, E.T., Martin, G.J., Hong, B.A.  (2005).  Capitol Hill Staff Workers' Experiences of Bioterrorism: Qualitative Findings from Focus Groups.  Journal of Traumatic Stress, 18, 79-88.