DEHUMANIZING AND REHUMANIZING RESPONSES TO SEPTEMBER 11

Abstract This article explores Americans' reactions to the national trauma of September 11. It examines individual and collective responses in relation to their potential for escalating the conflict, or for leading to a more permanent peace. The article presents conflict resolution models used in other nations struggling with political violence as alternative pathways for our own country. It discusses the psychosocial dangers involved in the transformation of fear into retaliatory anger, of neglecting unhealed trauma, and of delegating the peace process only to political hierarchies. Finally, it suggests ways in which systemic therapists can apply these approaches to clinical and community practice.