In this hour,
we explore Terror, Trauma and Healing: One Year Later
-- the first in our three-part series examining how America
is coping one year after September 11th. In this hour, we look
at the mental health of the nation. Guests include: world-leading
trauma specialists Dr. Robert Pynoos, who is a professor
of psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine and Co-Director of
the National Center for Child Traumatic Stress, and Dr. Randall
Marshall, who is a professor of Psychiatry at Columbia University's
medical school and Director of Trauma Studies for the New York
State Office of Mental Health at the New York State Psychiatric
Institute; The New York Times Op-Ed columnist Frank
Rich; former first-lady and leading mental health advocate
Rosalynn Carter; and documentary filmmaker Ric Burns,
who is now adding a new episode to his already-completed mini-series
about New York - a history of the World Trade Center. Commentary
by John Hockenberry.
Host Dr. Fred Goodwin
begins with an essay in which he says that over the
next three weeks we will present "Mental Health in Troubled Times:
One Year After" -- a three part series examining three areas of
particular interest to Americans in the wake of 9/11. In the subsequent
weeks, we'll look at Ethics and Work. This week, we examine the
residual mental health impact of the attacks. This show is forward-looking
-- it is not about covering or revisiting 9/11.
We begin with
award-winning documentary filmmaker Ric Burns.
Burns has written, directed and produced documentaries on Ansel
Adams, The Donner Party, and Coney Island, and he co-wrote and
co-produced the The Civil War with his brother, Ken Burns.
But he is perhaps best known for his the seven-part, 14-hour New
York: A Documentary Film. After last year's attacks, he decided
to add an eighth part, focusing on the history of The World Trade
Center. He says every theme of New York's history -- from globalization
to commercialization to the increase in diversity -- was put into
play in new and harrowing ways on the morning of 9/11. He says
we'll never finish processing the events -- too many lives were
lost, the buildings were too large. Still, as with the individual
traumas in our lives, he believes it is important that we do not
avoid thinking about the events; eventually, we will come to accept
the ways in which we have been changed.
To contact Mr.
Burns, please write to: Mr. Ric Burns, Steeplechase Films, 2095
Broadway # 503, New York, NY 10023.
Next, Dr. Goodwin
speaks with Dr. Robert Pynoos,
professor of psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine and CO-Director
of the National Center for Child Traumatic Stress, which is the
coordinating center for the National Child Traumatic Stress Network; Dr. Randall Marshall, professor of Psychiatry
at Columbia University's medical school and Director of Trauma
Studies for the New York State Office of Mental Health at the
New York State Psychiatric Institute; and Frank Rich, columnist for The New York Times
Op-ed page and senior writer for The New York Times Magazine.
The discussion
begins with Dr. Marshall giving a brief summary of recent studies
on the rates of PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) across the
country. One study showed that two months after 9/11, 8% of residents
of Manhattan below 110th Street had probable PTSD related to the
events -- that translates into 67,000 new cases. Another study
showed that the rate was even higher in the greater New York area
-- about 11.2% -- and, across the country, about 2-4% of people
appear to have PTSD related specifically to the attacks. He says
this is alarming, given that national estimates of PTSD related
to all other causes is also about 2-4%. Dr. Marshall believes
this shows that the power of watching the event on television
was greater than we imagined.
Dr. Pynoos adds
that TV was not the only link connecting people across the country
to the events -- because so many lives were taken, hundreds of
thousands of extended family members and friends felt a personal
loss on that day.
Mr. Rich says
that, in traveling around the country since 9/11, he's noticed
that the impact lessens the farther he is from New York. When
talking about the attacks to audiences in the West, he felt like
he was reporting from a foreign war zone. He says that in New
York, even if you did not lose anyone close to you, there were
constant visceral reminders of the tragedy, which caused everyone
to feel grief and sadness. Recently he's noticed that, as we approach
the anniversary, a lot of the young people he knows in New York
seem to want to suppress their feelings and memories.
Dr. Pynoos says
that suppressing one's feelings is not the healthiest reaction.
He advises parents around the country to talk with their children
about the events, not to get back into the emotions of the day,
but to reflect on what happened and to use the anniversary as
an opportunity for constructive responses. Immediately after 9/11,
many kids took part in activities to improve their schools and
communities, but that kind of action is now on the wane. He said
taking constructive steps within one's community can actually
help with the resolution of trauma.
Dr. Marshall
adds that one thing we've learned is that there is no good or
bad way to honor the memory of the dead and the tragedy of the
day. You cannot force people to respond in a particular way --
for example, a support group may be very helpful to one person
but harmful to another. People must find a way to grieve that
feels appropriate for them.
The three guests
then enter into a discussion about how the media has handled coverage
of the attacks and their aftermath. Mr. Rich commends both television
and print news outlets for their handling of the events of the
day, itself. However, he thinks we are not seeing the same good
taste and restraint as we head toward the anniversary. He says
already we're seeing a marketplace -- a competition for ratings
-- and he is concerned the overabundance of coverage will numb
people out. He says the media has an amazing ability to render
even enormous events meaningless. Dr. Marshall agrees and
adds that it's clear that watching too much TV coverage can add
to people's distress and symptomatology. Dr. Pynoos adds that
children can also be strongly affected by seeing images of the
events, and preschool age children may not even be able to distinguish
between a replay and a new attack. He urges parents to think hard
about what they do and do not want their children to see.
To contact Dr.
Pynoos, please write to: Dr. Robert Pynoos, Professor, Department
of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, UCLA School of Medicine,
Box 956968, Ste 2235, 300 Medl Plz, Los Angeles, CA 90095-6968.
Or visit http://www.ucla.edu/.
To contact Dr.
Marshall, please write to: Dr. Randall Marshall, Associate Professor
of Clinical Psychiatry, NYSPI Unit 69, 1051 Riverside Drive, New
York, NY 10032. Or visit http://www.columbia.edu/.
To contact
Mr. Rich, please write to: Mr. Frank Rich, The New York Times,
229 West 43rd Street, New York, NY 10036. Or visit http://www.nytimes.com/.
Then, The Infinite
Mind's Devorah Klahr visits with a group of people in New York who have not received
a lot of attention - the volunteers who rushed to support the
rescue workers at ground zero. Many of them are still suffering
from the lingering affects of the trauma.
Klahr spent some time at September Space, a community center
devoted to 9/11 volunteers. We hear from people like Jeff, who
volunteered at the salvation army and spent five weeks last year
taking care of the communication system that the first responders
used at ground zero. He still gets headaches and has trouble sleeping,
and he has difficulty finding people to talk to about his experiences
-- his wife got to a point where she didn't want to hear any more.
September Space has given him a place to go where he can share
his stories and find comfort from others.
To learn more about September Space, please visit http://www.septemberspace.org/.
Next, Dr. Goodwin
interviews former First Lady and leading mental health advocate
Rosalynn Carter. Mrs.
Carter is about to go to London to take part in the World Federation
for Mental Health's Second World Congress on the Promotion of
Mental Health and the Prevention of Mental and Behavioral Disorders,
which is cosponsored by the World Health Organization and the
Carter Center. At the conference, she will be talking about the
effects of violence and trauma on mental health. She tells Dr.
Goodwin that the prevention of mental illness is a relatively
new field since, until recently, we didn't know that prevention
was even an option. She says that it is important that we build
up resilience in people, children in particular, so that they
will be less likely to develop mental health problems when faced
with extreme stress, whether from an act of terror or anything
else. Also, we must build an adequate mental health system that
reaches everyone who needs help; no one should feel he or she
must simply "suffer through" mental health problems.
To contact Mrs.
Carter, please write to: Mrs. Rosalynn Carter, Vice Chair, The
Carter Center, One Copenhill, 453 Freedom Parkway, Atlanta, GA
30307. Or visit http://www.cartercenter.org/.
Finally, commentator John Hockenberry
offers his thoughts on America's
reaction to 9/11. He says, "Whatever else it signifies,
this anniversary is about what happened on a beautiful late summer
day when the United States was paying no attention to anything
but itself."
For more information
or if you think you or someone you know needs help, please contact:
Project
Liberty 1-800-LIFENET
[543-3638]. For the New York tri-state area.
The
National Alliance for the Mentally Ill 1-800-950-NAMI [6264]
The
National Institute of Mental Health NIMH Public Inquiries,
301-443-4513
The
National Mental Health Association 1-800-969-NMHA [6642]
National
Depressive and Manic-Depressive Association 1-800-826-3632
- Marit Haahr
Listen
to Terror, Trauma and Healing: One Year Later (Part One) 