Mental health experts explain that countless people suffered psychologically in the wake of the attacks even if they were not in Boston or physically hurt by the attacks. They warn that this anniversary could surface difficult or unhealthy emotions for many people.
Advocates for mental health are applauding the passage of a new law which will expand mental health support for survivors of natural disasters and terrorist attacks, like the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing. The Post-Disaster Mental Health Response Act allows FEMA to provide mental health services for survivors of not just "major disaster declarations," like the COVID-19 pandemic, but events considered smaller "emergency declarations" which took place in Boston. Manya Chylinski, a survivor of the marathon bombing, said she felt invisible as she searched for help. .
The next pandemic with which the U.S. will have to contend is widespread and untreated trauma, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley said Tuesday. Pressley met with Boston Marathon bombing survivors at a community health center in Dorchester to discuss the Post Disaster Mental Health Response Act, which Pressley and other lawmakers filed in 2021 after conversations with marathon
Pressley met with Boston Marathon bombing survivors at a community health center in Dorchester to discuss the Post Disaster Mental Health Response Act, which expands federal mental health support for survivors of natural disasters, domestic terrorist attacks and other crises that are declared designated emergencies by FEMA.