Doctors confront 'post-terrorism' stress disorder. (Watch for Depression, Anxiety, PTSD).

In one of the most poignant moments after passenger jets tore into the World Trade Center Sept. 11, throngs of physicians paced outside some New York City-area emergency rooms where few patients ever arrived, so lethal was the attack.

There were few to be cured, but there are many to be healed.

Physicians' greatest contribution to a healing America, according to psychiatric experts, will be identifying patients with lasting emotional wounds, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

"Ask every single patient: 'How are you feeling about this? How are you coping?'" advised Dr. Heather V. Krell, director of general outpatient psychiatry services at the University of California, Los Angeles.

"Be attuned to patients coming in with a large variety of somatic complaints that are much worse [since the date of the attack] or new, since angst is often channeled through physical symptoms," she added.

Most Americans will heal emotionally after being severely traumatized by a "horrifying attack on the symbols of our freedom, our American Way, and our safety," Dr. Krell said.

But many of the people who were physically or emotionally close to the assaults are expected to experience PTSD, and a greater number of Americans are at risk than in previous international catastrophes.