Even 13 years since the dreadful attack on the World Trade Center in New York, survivors still seek help in overcoming painful memories that plague their sleep.

Thousands of individuals, including New Yorkers who were there and were able to survive the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001 still feel survivor's guilt as some struggle to overcome self-isolation, substance abuse, and the recurring nightmares.

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Unfortunately, a nine-year-old treatment program is in danger of being ended if legislators do not extend its funding this upcoming fall.

According to record, in 2013 alone, over a thousand people signed up for the program through the World Trade Center Environmental Health Center for residents living and who lived within 1 ½ miles from Ground Zero.

For the past five years, almost 7,800 individuals have signed up for the program where 60 percent of the patients displayed signs of anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and depression linked to the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Many displayed survivor's guilt, which originally resulted in them delaying enrolling in the program.  

"There was tremendous survivor guilt. So people who survived didn't feel worthy of wanting to seek care. The fact that they had survived, they felt, should have been enough," mental health director Dr. Nomi Levy-Carrick explained.

According to her, many of those who recently signed up for the program saw that the post-traumatic effects of the tragic event were not going away and decided they needed help.

One of her patients, Rebecca Lazinger, enrolled in the program in 2010 and realized that it was the best decision she ever made.

"That was an enormous breakthrough for me," she told the Associated Press, explaining how she secretly cried over the 9/11 attack and talked about how the event turned her life into a 'big fuzzy mess.'

Subsidized through the federal James L. Zadroga 9/11 Compensation Act, the treatment program is accessible regardless of immigration status and requires no out-of-pocket costs whatsoever.

However, since the act is set to expire by October 2015, several New York lawmakers declared that they would introduce a bill in Congress to extend its funding for 25 more years.

Tags9/11, Survivor, world trade center, attack, Terrorist, survivor guilt, twin towers