Movie Review - World Trade Center

The film World Trade Center by director Oliver Stone tells the true and harrowing story of two New York City Port Authority Officers trapped under tons of debris after the collapse of World Trade Center Buildings 1 and 2. Sgt. John McLoughlin Originally led a team of four officers into the disaster area in an attempt to rescue survivors trapped in Building 1. However, before they could make it into the building tower 2 collapsed killing two members of his team. Sgt. McLoughlin led his remaining two men to relative safety near an elevator shaft as the concourse collapsed, trapping all of them 20 feet below ground level. Shortly thereafter one of the survivors, Officer Dominick Pezzulo was killed when the debris shifted due to the collapse of tower 1. Eventually Sgt. McLoughlin and Officer William Jimeno are located by two marines conducting search and rescue operations in the devastated area. Officer Jimeno was freed by rescue crews after approximately 13 hours while Sgt. McLoughlin remained trapped for 22 hours. Both survivors needed extensive medical attention, Officer Jimeno underwent six surgeries over the next few days while Sgt. McLoughlin required 30 and spent six weeks in a medically induced coma. Both men are now retired due to their injuries and currently reside in New York State.

The initial incident, the destruction of the World Trade Center was only the beginning for those who survived the hellish devastation wrought by a group of morally corrupt religious zealots. For these survivors every moment of every day was to be filled with the emotional, social, psychological, and physical problems relating to their ordeal. Though the film World Trade Center focused on two of these survivors an estimated fifteen thousand people were evacuated from the site after the initial impact (Avrill, et al., 2005). The psychological trauma sustained by many of these survivors was severe requiring immediate, in depth and long term treatment.

The destruction of the WTC Complex was the hazardous event that precipitated the need for intervention and started their crisis. Some were more vulnerable at the onset due to personal problems while others handled the initial destruction with poise. Later however these individuals would begin to exhibit a state of active crisis, including stress related problems. Many would have difficulty dealing with everyday tasks, coping with friends and families, or returning to work. Since these problems affect the individual in the here and now it seems appropriate to look for a treatment that focuses on the same, these victims needed early access to cognitive behavior therapies or CBTs. Individual and group counseling can help bring to light the specific events that are causing their disruptions. One study post 911 showed that individuals from the WTC collapse who received treatment with CBTs in conjunction with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, SSRIs, showed that,

Patients treated with prolonged exposure plus paroxetine experienced significantly greater improvement in PTSD symptoms (incidence rate ratio=0.50, 95% CI=0.30-0.85) and remission status (odds ratio=12.6, 95% CI=1.23-129) during 10 weeks of combined treatment than patients treated with prolonged exposure plus placebo. Response rate and quality of life were also significantly more improved with combined treatment (Schneier, et al., 2012).

While the amount of time the patient would need treatment will vary by person it is clear that treatment would need to continue beyond the initial crisis intervention. During this extended timeframe the teaching