MEDIA ADVISORY: As 1st Anniversary Approaches, JAMA Releases
Findings on Reactions to Sept. 11 Attacks
WHO: Dr. Randall Marshall,
Director of Trauma Studies Program, New York State Psychiatric
Institute & Chief Consortium Coordinator, New York City Consortium for
Trauma Treatment
Dr. Jaime Carcamo,
Clinical Psychologist and Research Scientist at the Anxiety
Disorders Clinic, New York State Psychiatric Institute. He has conducted
workshops on treatment of PTSD. *Bilingual
WHERE: The New York State Psychiatric Institute, 1051 Riverside Dr @
W. 165th St.
Today’s issue of JAMA includes the latest findings of research on the
psychological effects of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. The
results support findings from earlier studies, which indicated a higher
incidence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among adult New Yorkers
directly exposed to the attacks. This particular study cited a prevalence
of “probable PTSD” related to the September 11 attacks as five times that
of Washington, DC (11.2%).
Seeing a critical need for training in mental health services related to
trauma, a consortium of several New York City Medical Centers, including
the New York State Psychiatric Institute, was organized soon after the
attacks. Led by Dr. Randall Marshall, the director of the trauma studies
program at the Psychiatric Institute and Chief Consortium Coordinator,
experts from around the country have, for the past seven months, helped to
train clinicians in effective trauma treatment. These clinicians have been
implementing treatment in their own practices as well as conducting
training seminars for the Greater New York mental health community.
Knowing full well the stigma attached to psychiatric services,
particularly in the Hispanic population, the consortium has also developed
a training program, led by Dr. Roberto Lewis-Fernandez, for primary care
physicians in the Washington Heights community. Researchers in the
Hispanic Treatment Program at the Psychiatric Institute are leading this
effort.
With the first anniversary fast approaching, experts fear that those
showing signs of recovery from PTSD will regress and those who have yet to
seek treatment will be shamed into hiding because of misguided notions
that people should have fully recovered by now.