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Psychological effects of Tiff I
The Harrisburg area has
changed since the Three Mile
Island accident in late March.
People in the region no longer
see the man-made world around
them as safe. People have a new
sense of personal vulnerability.
Pro-nuclear sources are sug
gesting that the accident is an
indication of the safety of nuclear
power, not its dangers. They say
that this is so because contain
ment was not breached, a full
meltdown did not occur, and
because there is debate over
physical health effects of the
relatively low levels of radiation
which were emitted.
This position ignores any
psychological damage produced
by the disaster and its aftermath.
In fact, the damage done offsite
seems largely to have been psy
chological. And it is the psycho
logical effects which most inter
est people from outside the area.
Understanding the nature of
these effects is critical for under
standing the meaning of TMI.
It's raining cate and dogs
“Twenty five million cats
and dogs are doomed to a
cruel fate each year. Nobody
wants them. Their fate is
death,” states a pamphlet for
the Friends of Animals Inc.
( F of A)
F of A is a nationwide or
ganization that started in
1964. Its main objective is to
educate people about
reducing the animal popula
tion.
It is still getting off the
ground with 500 volunteers
across the country in about 32
to 35 States.
Fof A stresses spaying
and neutering as the solution
to the problem of unwanted
animals. Norma M. Sauer,
local volunteer, feels that,
“This is the humane thing to
do.” She adds, “Spaying is
better than death."
Many unwanted animals
who have no home either end
up starving to death, con
tracting diseases, or are eaten
from the inside by worms.
Sauer says people are misled
if they think the Humane
Society will find homes for
their pets’ unwanted litters.
“There just aren’t enough
good homes,” states Sauer.
F of A is helping to solve
the problem by first educating
the people by showing them
that spaying is the answer.
Second, it gives financial
help to pet owners who cannot
afford to spay their animals.
Third, the organization asks
that shelters give kittens and
pups to only those people who
will pay for the animals’ spay-
by susan girolami
ing in advance. Financial aid is
given in this case also.
Last, F of A has corps of
volunteers to “teach” people
in their communities about
the prevention of unwanted
pets and the aid available for
spaying.
Another gripe with
Friends of Animals is the
declawing of cats. Declawing
can have damaging physical
and psychological effects on a
cat.
Without their claws, cats
have no way of defending
themselves. They begin to
bite and don’t understand the
pain they feel when they
walk.
Infection can set in or the
claw can grow back in an
abnormal way. The cat also
feels mistrust for his master
and veterinarian.
Friends of Animals Inc. is
an organization to prevent not
only unwanted pets but un
wanted cruelty
r~..pL—i
We can draw on disaster
literature for help. (Disasters are
sudden, unexpected events
which damage property and
people. By this standard defini
tion, the TMI accident was clear
ly a disaster.) Psychological dam
age seems to come from two
sources: immediate stress from
the disaster’s impact itself, and
continuing sesitization to the pos
sibility of future disaster.
The stress effects are usually
short-lived, if painful. They in
clude depression, irritability, ag
itation and anxiety. The stress
can lead to disruption of work
and relationships. The problems
people experienced during evac
uation fall into this category.
(Interestingly, disasters tend to
agitate and disrupt people, and
not to drive them crazy: anxiety
is a more likely result than
schizophrenia.)
In Harrisburg, the continuing
sensitization effects are the most
interesting. People still twitch a
bit when they hear the term
Stealing a
phone call
isn’t a
game.
by bob colman
“radiation”; they respond quickly
and negatively to threats of
future radioactive releases from
TMI. I hear that outside re
searchers are beginning to refer
to a “Harrisburg hysteria.” Why,
they seem to ask, is there so
strong a reaction here, if the
accident was minimal in its im
mediate impact?
As it happens, the events at
TMI could hardly have been
better designed to produce long
term sensitization. Three charac
teristics of the events were par
ticularly important. First, in
coming so close to a meltdown,
we were exposed to a near-miss
situation, so that we could ima
gine all possible scary outcomes
from an almost incredibly large
threat. Second, we were all vul
nerable, since radiation respects
no high ground. Third, and now
perhaps most important, it was a
high-technology accident, com
pounded by human error. Since
the same people -Met-Ed and the
NRC-- show every indication of
Be a Reader pkotog
Bell of Pennsylvania
planning to use the same high
technology, we are exposed to a
continued vulnerability. And
outsiders wonder why local
people act concerned?
One additional consideration.
Direct stress effects as I said, are
usually short-lived. However,
there is increasing evidence in
the literature of latent traumatic
neuroses from disasters. In other
words, people can have anxiety
symptoms which show them
selves in behavior only under
additional, later stress. It is for
this reason, along with continu
ing sensitization to threat, that
reopening TMI, Unit 1 or 2,
would be a serious mental health
hazard.
The best corrective for feel
ings of vulnerability is success in
trying to regain control over
one’s life. Locally, the clearest rC
way to do this is to work success
fully to close TMI.
Most students play by the rules
when placing a long distance
call. They take advantage of bar
gain rates and make their calls
during the discount periods. If
you're not sure when you can call
at discount rates, check your
phone book.
A few students think it's O.K. to
break the rules by stealing their
telephone calls. They're not beat
ing the system, they're taking
advantage of all of us, because it
drives up the cost of providing
telephone service.
Students who break the rules also
run the risk of paying a large fine.
Spending time in jail. And getting
themselves a permanent police
record.
It's just not worth it!
c c reader