Psychological Impact

The 911 incident traumatized the citizens in America. When the building is collapsing, people jumped out of it and the bodies landing down from the building created an unforgettable poignant image of the victims' plight.

Tens of thousands of public-school children in New York City are experiencing chronic nightmares, fear of public places, severe anxiety and other mental health problems months after the World Trade Center attack, a study conducted for the Board of Education has found.

Board officials say the study provides the most comprehensive look ever at the psychological impact of a major disaster on American schoolchildren.

The results released provided strong evidence that the terrorist attack took a heavy psychological toll on city children, including many who were not directly affected. Girls were more likely than boys to experience psychological problems.

The study estimates that 75,000 schoolchildren in the 4th through the 12th grades, or 10.5 percent of the children in those grades, suffered post-traumatic stress disorder after Sept. 11. Even more -- 107,395, or 15 percent -- suffered agoraphobia, or fear of public places. Mr. Levy said that many in that category admitted a fear of riding public transportation after the attack. That is a a significant finding, since a large percentage of city students take buses or subways to school.

Children who live or attend school near ground zero were most likely to experience mental health problems, but they were not so heavily affected as children from around the city who had relatives or acquaintances injured or killed in the attack.

Symptoms experienced:

• Thinking obsessively about the attack
• Trying not to think, hear or talk about it
• Trouble sleeping
• Chronic nightmares
• Shortened attention spans

Employees can suffer from post traumatic stress disorders even when an extreme incident is not work-related. The impact of disaster and death on human beings has been chronicled for long. Traumatic incidents affect an individual's personal and professional life.

Symptoms experienced:

• "Flashbacks" about the traumatic incident
• Nightmares or sleep disorders
• Impaired functioning
• Occupational instability Sense of detachment, memory lapses Marital or family discord