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As reminders mount, 9/11 pain could return

By Chuck Bennett | amNewYork Staff Writer

August 17, 2006

Every reminder of 9/11 brings an opportunity for healing along with the painful memories, mental health experts said Wednesday.

"It certainly brings people back to 9/11, and people can use that in a variety of ways," said Dr. Janet Bachant, founder of the New York Disaster Counseling Coalition. "It could be an opportunity to confront fears. It doesn't have to be a bad thing, it is just something people need to reflect upon in order to best address it themselves."

The release Wednesday of additional dispatcher audio tapes from 9/11 came as the city prepared to mark the fifth anniversary of the terrorist attacks. The attacks also had been in the public eye in recent weeks with the release of Oliver Stone's new film, "World Trade Center."

"It does regenerate old anxieties, fears and stress," Bachant said.

"Whatever that disaster meant to you as an individual is going to be reactivated again."

Mayor Michael Bloomberg asked media outlets to downplay the tapes out of respect to victims' families.

"Try to see if there is something where there's a real public purpose and whether it really is worth putting families through reliving grief that I think none of the rest of us could possibly imagine," he said.

The city's counseling hotline, (800) LifeNet, reported no spikes in the number of calls it receives when 9/11 is revisited in the media, according to its operators, the Mental Health Association of New York City.