9/11 Mental Scars Could Stay With Kids

— -- N.Y. Kids May Carry 9/11 Mental Scars as Adults

Y O K O H A M A, Japan, Aug. 26 —

Thousands of children living in NewYork are struggling with mental problems related to Sept. 11that in many cases will last into adulthood, according topsychiatrists who studied the impact of the attacks.

As the anniversary of the attacks that killed 3,000 peopleapproaches, the study suggests the mental health of a wholegeneration of young New Yorkers has been damaged, with problemslike alcohol abuse and depression showing significant rises.

"For thousands of children this is an image, an experiencethat they carry with them for life ... it's a wholegeneration," said Christina Hoven, one of the psychiatrists whoconducted the study on around 8,300 New York children agedbetween nine and 18.

The children who took part in the study were assessedaround six months after the attacks and either lost a relativein the World Trade Center or had one who escaped.

Hoven said the surprising aspect of the results was thatthe eight forms of mental illness, including depression, posttraumatic stress disorder and alcohol abuse, were just asprevalent in children who were nowhere near Ground Zero as inthose who had witnessed the attacks firsthand.

"All of the eight disorders were quite elevated from whatcould be expected in the general population," Hoven said.

"We took the entire city and what was surprising was thatrates around the city were quite similar so the important thingwas not proximity to the disaster but age, with youngerchildren being more vulnerable." Haven and her colleagues atColumbia University are in Japan for the World PsychiatryCongress where they will present the results of their study onTuesday.

She said many of the symptoms mirrored mental problems moreoften seen in war zones, which suggested that many of NewYork's 1.2 million children may be unaware of the mental scarsthey are carrying until later in life.

Another traumatic event, such as a car crash, couldsuddenly trigger a mental reaction in adulthood.

"We're talking about a very large population at risk," shesaid. "We know enough about the effects of the ravages of war.They keep it a secret, they don't tell their children what theyexperienced. It's something you don't even want to repeat, butthen suddenly there's a car accident and you relive it."