Deep stress could signal cry for help

0 Comments | USA TODAY, April, 2007 | by Marilyn Elias

Most people who feel traumatized by the killings last week at Virginia Tech will recover on their own soon, but counseling may be needed if feelings of anxiety and shock don't lessen after several weeks, mental health experts say.

"It's perfectly normal for many to feel shock, sadness and anxiety and to find themselves ruminating after an event like this," says psychologist Richard McNally of Harvard University, who has studied post-traumatic stress disorder. "Most people are going to be OK."

The problem comes when such reactions show no sign of waning more than several weeks after a violent event, he says.

Relatives and friends of the murdered students, the wounded and others who were near the mayhem are most vulnerable to traumatic stress, says...