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Survivor guilt |
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This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2007) |
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It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Survivor syndrome. (Discuss) |
Survivor guilt, also known as survivor syndrome, is a mental condition that occurs when a person perceives himself or herself to have done wrong by surviving a traumatic event. It may be found among survivors of combat and natural disaster, and in non-mortal situations among those whose colleagues are laid off. The experience and manifestation of survivor's guilt will depend on an individual's psychological profile. When the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV (DSM-IV) was published survivor guilt was removed as a recognised specific diagnosis, and redefined as a significant symptom of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
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Survivor guilt was first diagnosed during the 1960s. Several therapists recognized similar if not identical conditions among Holocaust survivors. Similar signs and symptoms have been recognized in survivors of traumatic situations including combat, natural disasters, and wide-ranging job layoffs. A variant form has been found among rescue and emergency services personnel who blame themselves for doing too little to help those in danger, and among therapists, who may feel a form of guilt in the face of their patients' suffering.
Sufferers sometimes blame themselves for the deaths of others, including those who died while rescuing the survivor or whom the survivor tried unsuccessfully to save.citation needed
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Please help improve this article or section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page. (November 2008) |
Sufferers may with time divert their guilt into helping others deal with traumatic situations. They may describe or regard their own survival as insignificant. Survivors who feel guilty sometimes suffer self-blame and clinical depression.citation needed
Early disaster response and grief therapy methods both attempt to prevent survivor guilt from arising. Where it is already present therapists attempt to recognise the guilt and understand the reasons for its development. Next, a therapist may present a sufferer with alternative, hopeful views on the situation. The emotional damage and trauma is then recognized, released and treated. With growing self-confidence the survivor's guilt may be relieved, and the survivor may come to understand that the traumatic event was the result of misfortune, not of the survivor. Once able to view himself or herself as a sufferer, not one who caused suffering, the survivor can mourn and continue with life.
Rick Rescorla, chief security administrator of Morgan Stanley at the World Trade Center, was said to have acted upon survivor's guilt as a result of traumatic experiences during the Vietnam War. He saved most of Morgan Stanley's 2700 employees and countless others before heading back into WTC Tower #2 shortly before its collapse.
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