Changed by 9/11: Dr. Miriam Deitsch, Counselor

Dr. Miriam Deitsch vividly remembers the smells of the fire, the feeling of the ground shake and of eyes burning from the smoke.

She wasn't at the World Trade Center on the morning of 9/11, but she has counseled dozens who were.

"That was the hardest counseling I have ever done," said the professor, who chairs the Sociology and Anthropology department, is the director of the Social Science Research Center and runs her own private psychology practice.

Just days after 9/11, Deitsch was in the city counseling World Trade Center employees who survived the attack by escaping the building or who did not go to work that day. She says many were troubled and many felt guilty for surviving what their peers hadn't.

"I told them that their work wasn't done and to think about what their purpose as they continue their life would be," she said. "That brought a sense of comfort but not of understanding why this happened."

Deitsch said that after 9/11 many of the survivors struggled going up in elevators, being on high floors and leaving their children.

"But people are very resilent," she said."Many were able to go back to work but with very big accommodations."

Deitsch thought of her own three children frequently during the sessions and is very disturbed by what has taken place politically since 9/11.

"The thing that remains with me always is the continuing injustices and inhumanity to the people who are still suffering, still not able to get benefits or have bills passed to take care of their needs," she said. "It remains a great source of discomfort and concern for me."

On the tenth anniversary Deitsch will be part of a group mental health disaster professionals at the Point Lookout memorial service, on hand in case anyone needs support.

She says she never stops thinking about the people whose lives were forever changed.

"It's an unthinkable tragedy you don't imagine would ever happen. Thousands of people did everything they did as part of their normal routine and it was anything but normal," she said. "I felt so blessed to have a skill that would bring some kind of relief, some kind of peace and some kind of help to people."