Greyhound screeches its bus fleet to a halt. A plane explodes over the Black Sea. A Florida man's rare disease raises fears of bioterrorism. Across the US, people trying to recover emotionally from the Sept. 11 attacks find new reasons to worry almost daily.
In skyscrapers and airports, at stadiums and bus terminals, uneasiness surfaces more quickly than a month ago. A fellow passenger, a package, a small plane on the horizon -- all might now rouse suspicion.
The hijacked airliners that hit the World Trade Center and Pentagon, and another that crashed in the Pennsylvania countryside, killed more than 5,000 people. Although terrorism has long been a fact of life in many countries, Americans were jolted by the suddenness of the tragedy, as well as its toll.
"Normally, most people deal with horrible things -- a plane crash, an earthquake -- by rationalizing to themselves, `It couldn't happen to me,'" said Jerilyn Ross, who runs an anxiety-disorder center in Washington.
"But those are one-time events -- they happen and then they're over. Now, people don't have closure. There's this sense of `When is the next shoe going to drop?'"
Federal authorities have been sending mixed messages, urging Americans to go about their daily lives while cautioning that more terrorist attacks could occur. The result for some is that fear is compounded by mistrust.
Reid Wilson, a psychologist in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, said some of his patients no longer believe government statements.
"When that trust erodes, individuals are going to have even greater trouble," he said.
Wilson, author of a book called Don't Panic, said a new wariness has affected both him and his patients. He heard a small plane recently, and his first thought was of reports that terrorists might spray toxic chemicals from a crop duster.
"The body and mind have now been cranked up to another degree of sensitivity, and our defensive wall has dropped down to our knees," he said. "We have that startled response to so many things."
At home and abroad, each jarring news report seems to bring terrorism to mind, even without any concrete link.
Greyhound, for example, pulled more than 2,000 buses off America's highways Wednesday after an assailant slashed a bus driver's neck and caused a crash in Tennessee that killed six people. Authorities later determined the attacker was a "single deranged individual."
Russian authorities swiftly suggested terrorism after a chartered plane crashed Thursday off the Black Sea coast. The true cause remains murky; US officials said the plane may have been downed accidentally by a Ukrainian missile.
In France, the environment minister now says a Sept. 21 chemical plant blast that killed 29 people may have been a terrorist attack. Authorities initially said it was almost certainly an accident.
In Florida, a man was hospitalized with pulmonary anthrax, a highly lethal disease mentioned as a possible biological weapon. Authorities say there is no evidence of a terrorist link, but are investigating all possibilities.
Jitters are evident nationwide: at the US Military Academy, as new identity checks are instituted for the first home football game; in Utah, as organizers rethink security for the Winter Olympics; and, at the 110-story Sears Tower in Chicago, as new concrete barriers are installed to thwart a car-bombing.
"It's good they put these up to prevent anything that might be planned," said Julie Welch, a health care consultant who works in the tower. "But I don't know if it's going to stop a bad intention. If someone wants to hit it, they'll figure out a way."
Dan Hetman, an accountant from Fridley, Minnesota, said he actually feels safer now, thanks to arrests and security measures.
His way of coping: "Just getting back to normal. You can't just live in fear and stay in your house and not go about your business."
Americans wondering if their stress and anxiety is severe enough to warrant treatment have a chance to be screened next Thursday at any of 1,800 sites participating in National Depression Screening Day.
Dr Douglas Jacobs, a Harvard Medical School psychiatrist who developed the free screening program, says an extra component has been added this year to help people determine if they are suffering post traumatic stress disorder.
"Some of what people are feeling is a normal response to a horrible situation -- other people develop disorders that do require treatment," Jacobs said. "The need now is something we've never experienced before."
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