1. ¹Department of Psychiatry, Mt Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA
2. ²Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School and Office of the Provost, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA

Correspondence: Dr SE Hyman, Office of the Provost, Harvard University, Massachusetts Hall, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. Tel: +1 617 496 5100; Fax: +1 617 496 4630; E-mail: steven_hyman@harvard.edu

Received 1 October 2004; Revised 5 May 2005; Accepted 27 May 2005; Published online 13 July 2005.

Abstract

Following the recent US experience with terrorism, including bioterrorism, significant biomedical research resources have been appropriately focused on bioterror weapons. Far less research attention has been focused on the behavioral and psychobiological effects of terrorism. Yet, the psychological responses to terrorism exert significant effects on mental and physical health and on society. We present a research agenda, based on a comprehensive review of the literature, to address the troubling gaps in our knowledge about the long-term effects of terrorism on brain, behavior, and physical health, the risk factors for predicting who will be most affected by terrorism, and interventions that might promote resilience at an individual and population level.