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CNN Sunday Morning

Interview With Dr. Steven Wolin

Aired October 27, 2002 - 11:17   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: We want to talk a little more about the terrorism in our country. People who felt terrorized by the sniper scare are faced with a new challenge now and that is getting over all of the fear. One resource that might be helpful is a book called "The Resilient Self." And George Washington University's Dr. Steven Wolin co-authored that book and he joins us now live from D.C.
Thank you for being here, sir.

DR. STEVEN WOLIN, GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: Thank you, Heidi, it's a pleasure.

COLLINS: We want to talk a little bit about the situation that we are in as citizens of the United States. We have Iraq that we're talking about, the latest news with North Korea and their nuclear weapons program. We have the sniper shootings. We had September 11. Tell us, is it really a more dangerous place or are we just reporting a lot more? I mean there's 24-hour news networks all over. There's the Internet. There's sort of this overwhelming amount of information that we can now get. Which is it?

WOLIN: Well, I think it's both, Heidi. I think that terrorism is a pretty local phenomenon so that in our community although we're feeling a lot of relief this morning, we're very aware of 9/11, anthrax and now this terrible sniper incident over several weeks and all these murders. So I think that part of it is very real to us, that there's been a sort of piercing of a sense of invulnerability and safety that we had before. I don't know about the international front. I really can't speak about that because my interests there are the families at home. But, you know, I think it's definitely different from before. This is a different reality for us.

COLLINS: We heard right after September 11 that history obviously had changed itself and everyone would refer to events in their lives as before September 11, after September 11. What is the best way to deal with all this information that we get? I mean you don't want to lock yourself in your house. You've got to deal with it.

WOLIN: Right. You know, I think we have learned from listening to families in Northern Ireland, in Jerusalem, in Kosovo, in Bosnia, that it's really important to keep up the main activities of family life, you know, the routines that provide a sense of stability and regularity to our lives, even perhaps to deny a little bit the danger that is out there so that we can feel connected to people, so that we can feel like our lives are still OK. We need to do some denial. COLLINS: And tell us about that. Denial is healthy in some of these situations?

WOLIN: Yes, I think that what we do in terms of healthy denial is we say, "Look, you know, the odds are out there. I can't focus on it." The opposite of healthy denial, I think, is unhealthy worrying. So I think we have to ask some difficult questions and we have to say, "Well, it's really important to keep going and to keep our families going and to understand that although there's some danger out there, we're going to be OK as best we can control."

COLLINS: And asking these questions and becoming more informed is what you say to be your best friend, so to speak. Who do you ask these questions of? Is it your community? Where do you go for that?

WOLIN: Yes, well, community really matters. Who's my community? My community is my family, my children, you know, my son-in-law, my neighbors, my close friends. I mean, we all have different kinds of families and different kind of communities, but we must stay connected with them and carry on the sort of routines and rituals of regular life. That's what anchors us and gives us a sense of security.

COLLINS: Let's go back to the D.C. sniper area shootings. How long do you think the recovery period for folks in that area is going to be?

WOLIN: Yes, well, I'm afraid that there's a pretty serious scar here. I think that we're all very relieved. Look, you can feel it in the streets. We are very happy to go back to regular life and carrying out regular activities. But I think that there's a cumulative effect of these 9/11, anthrax and now the sniper attack on our community. I don't think that we're going to heal all so quickly. And I think you'll see it, for example in those people who are the most vulnerable, who do get anxious when there is a trauma nearby and they're going to probably have some difficult nights of sleep and some bad dreams and feel frightened for some time. We're not going to achieve closure so quickly, I think, on all of this.

COLLINS: Last question for you, sir, is this going to make us stronger at all? Is there anything good that we can take from it?

WOLIN: Well, that's a great question because in my interest in resilience and you did mention that I am interested in how we can possibly be stronger from the things that we go through and I do think that we have learned three short -- three things I can mention briefly. One is this importance of relationships and community. The second is to limit the extent to which there is saturation, TV, media exposure, radio, newspapers. We can't be flooded. We have to distance ourself. So that's separation and independence from some of that trouble. And finally, we have to be able to ask ourself the kind of difficult questions about can we carry on our activities even in the face of danger and risk. And the answer is, yes.

COLLINS: Yes, we can. All right.

WOLIN: Yes, we can. COLLINS: Dr. Steven Wolin, we do appreciate it, co-author of "The Resilient Self." Have a great day, sir. Thank you.

WOLIN: Thank you, Heidi.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com








Aired October 27, 2002 - 11:17   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: We want to talk a little more about the terrorism in our country. People who felt terrorized by the sniper scare are faced with a new challenge now and that is getting over all of the fear. One resource that might be helpful is a book called "The Resilient Self." And George Washington University's Dr. Steven Wolin co-authored that book and he joins us now live from D.C.
Thank you for being here, sir.

DR. STEVEN WOLIN, GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: Thank you, Heidi, it's a pleasure.

COLLINS: We want to talk a little bit about the situation that we are in as citizens of the United States. We have Iraq that we're talking about, the latest news with North Korea and their nuclear weapons program. We have the sniper shootings. We had September 11. Tell us, is it really a more dangerous place or are we just reporting a lot more? I mean there's 24-hour news networks all over. There's the Internet. There's sort of this overwhelming amount of information that we can now get. Which is it?

WOLIN: Well, I think it's both, Heidi. I think that terrorism is a pretty local phenomenon so that in our community although we're feeling a lot of relief this morning, we're very aware of 9/11, anthrax and now this terrible sniper incident over several weeks and all these murders. So I think that part of it is very real to us, that there's been a sort of piercing of a sense of invulnerability and safety that we had before. I don't know about the international front. I really can't speak about that because my interests there are the families at home. But, you know, I think it's definitely different from before. This is a different reality for us.

COLLINS: We heard right after September 11 that history obviously had changed itself and everyone would refer to events in their lives as before September 11, after September 11. What is the best way to deal with all this information that we get? I mean you don't want to lock yourself in your house. You've got to deal with it.

WOLIN: Right. You know, I think we have learned from listening to families in Northern Ireland, in Jerusalem, in Kosovo, in Bosnia, that it's really important to keep up the main activities of family life, you know, the routines that provide a sense of stability and regularity to our lives, even perhaps to deny a little bit the danger that is out there so that we can feel connected to people, so that we can feel like our lives are still OK. We need to do some denial. COLLINS: And tell us about that. Denial is healthy in some of these situations?

WOLIN: Yes, I think that what we do in terms of healthy denial is we say, "Look, you know, the odds are out there. I can't focus on it." The opposite of healthy denial, I think, is unhealthy worrying. So I think we have to ask some difficult questions and we have to say, "Well, it's really important to keep going and to keep our families going and to understand that although there's some danger out there, we're going to be OK as best we can control."

COLLINS: And asking these questions and becoming more informed is what you say to be your best friend, so to speak. Who do you ask these questions of? Is it your community? Where do you go for that?

WOLIN: Yes, well, community really matters. Who's my community? My community is my family, my children, you know, my son-in-law, my neighbors, my close friends. I mean, we all have different kinds of families and different kind of communities, but we must stay connected with them and carry on the sort of routines and rituals of regular life. That's what anchors us and gives us a sense of security.

COLLINS: Let's go back to the D.C. sniper area shootings. How long do you think the recovery period for folks in that area is going to be?

WOLIN: Yes, well, I'm afraid that there's a pretty serious scar here. I think that we're all very relieved. Look, you can feel it in the streets. We are very happy to go back to regular life and carrying out regular activities. But I think that there's a cumulative effect of these 9/11, anthrax and now the sniper attack on our community. I don't think that we're going to heal all so quickly. And I think you'll see it, for example in those people who are the most vulnerable, who do get anxious when there is a trauma nearby and they're going to probably have some difficult nights of sleep and some bad dreams and feel frightened for some time. We're not going to achieve closure so quickly, I think, on all of this.

COLLINS: Last question for you, sir, is this going to make us stronger at all? Is there anything good that we can take from it?

WOLIN: Well, that's a great question because in my interest in resilience and you did mention that I am interested in how we can possibly be stronger from the things that we go through and I do think that we have learned three short -- three things I can mention briefly. One is this importance of relationships and community. The second is to limit the extent to which there is saturation, TV, media exposure, radio, newspapers. We can't be flooded. We have to distance ourself. So that's separation and independence from some of that trouble. And finally, we have to be able to ask ourself the kind of difficult questions about can we carry on our activities even in the face of danger and risk. And the answer is, yes.

COLLINS: Yes, we can. All right.

WOLIN: Yes, we can. COLLINS: Dr. Steven Wolin, we do appreciate it, co-author of "The Resilient Self." Have a great day, sir. Thank you.

WOLIN: Thank you, Heidi.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com