Americans Learn to Live With Terror

Sept. 20 -- Most Americans don't worry whether the bag casually resting in an unoccupied seat on the city bus or subway could be a bomb. Ray Shapira does.

That's because American-born Shapira and his family have lived through many a terrorist attack since they moved a couple of decades ago to a city in northern Israel, minutes away from the Lebanese border.

Wariness of suspicious objects is just one of many safety precautions Israelis like Shapira practice every day.

"My daughter is not allowed to ride buses or go to the mall because the density of people is high there and the chance of being a target rises," says a retired Israeli air force colonel, now manager of the country's largest private hospital, who asked not to be identified for safety reasons.

"In an age of terrorism, you cannot afford to take safety for granted."

Will living with the constant stress of a potential attack become a part of life in the United States, too? Experts say it's too early to tell. But if it does, Americans will have to adapt, move on and even return to normalcy, as have the people of Israel, Northern Ireland, the former Yugoslavia, Kashmir, Spain, Greece and Cyprus — just a few of the places rocked by terrorism.

The Potency of Fear

Prior to last week's attacks, the idea that Americans are all potential targets was completely foreign to them, mainly because the United States hasn't been exposed to terrorism on such a grand scale, suggests psychiatrist Paul Kettl, a professor at Pennsylvania State University.

But the potential psychological downsides are grave. "Some of the effects you see in parts of the world which have been hard hit by terrorism," observes Robert R. Butterworth, a Los Angeles-based trauma psychologist, "include a culture where people don't smile, high depression rates, increase in divorce, alcohol and drug abuse as well as a rise in domestic violence."

Kettl also cites trouble sleeping, concentrating and even fear of returning to a normal routine. And Shapira adds, from his own experience, there are other effects — like suppressed hostility, increased aggressiveness and decreased patience.