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CNN Live Today

Interview with Child Psychologist Christina Hoven

Aired May 30, 2002 - 13:44   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: The children of New York City were especially traumatized by the September 11 attacks, and this is actually according to a recent study. Dr. Christina Hoven was the principal investigator. She is a child psychiatric epidemiologist at Columbia University, and she joins us from West Babylon, New York.

Dr. Hoven, thanks for being here. The results out of your study are actually remarkable. You found that more that 8,200 kids whom you interviewed, more than 10 percent showing signs of post traumatic stress disorder. That's really surprising.

CHRISTINA HOVEN, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: Well yes, it is and it isn't surprising. This was a -- was a disaster of massive proportions, and as we know from the literature, that when you have any kind of disaster, you are going to have elevated rates of PTSD, post traumatic stress disorder.

I think what is surprising from our findings, is that it is not just PTSD that we found at elevated rates, but we also found a number of other disorders, many of those disorders people did not previously have any idea would be elevated from this kind of a disaster.

LIN: What kinds of symptoms were you seeing in these kids?

HOVEN: Well, the symptoms that we used to determine whether the children in fact met criteria for the disorders were the standard -- what's called DSM criteria. Are they having nightmares, for PTSD. They can't stop thinking about it. They are trying to avoid people in situations that remind them of the situation. Those kind of things.

LIN: And also symptoms of agoraphobia. Fear of being in public places and taking public transportation.

HOVEN: Yes. The reason we included that particular disorder, it seemed reasonable in New York City that we would want to include that disorder because in New York, 750,000 children every single day ride transportation to school. Those are buses, ferries to cross the water, they go across bridges, they go through tunnels, and it seemed that that might in fact be affected, and not to our surprise, it was very much affected.

LIN: Do children manifest these disorders differently than adults? And for longer periods of time? Is the impact much greater on the little person?

HOVEN: Well, it's greater in that it could potentially last longer. If you are traumatized at the age of four or five or seven or 10, you may have a lifetime of problems related to that trauma. So in that sense, absolutely. We know actually very little about the effects of a disaster beyond PTSD and depression on children. And I think from this study we will now pay more attention to these other disorders. But, yes, in fact we can expect a long-term effect if children don't get help.

And I think that one of the things that the study tells us is that a very large number of children have been affected. And there is help out there and that it behooves the parents, the teachers, the counselors, to reach out to these students and to offer help.

LIN: So not assume that kids are just acting out because they are a discipline problem, but that, at least in New York, that these kids may actually be responding to something extreme?

HOVEN: Well, actually many of the disorders that are elevated are what we call "internalizing disorders." Those are the disorders that children don't act out. They just think about it, they worry about it. Those are the more problematic disorders because the children don't ask for help and they don't display an activity which would make you think that they are troubled. So it's all the more reason why parents particularly need to reach out to those children and talk to their children and ask them what they are thinking about and are they troubled by this event.

LIN: Thank you very much, Christina Hoven. I'm sure that many parents will benefit from your advice here. Lots of good advice there. Reinforcing safety and security for these kids and getting them into a routine and encouraging them to talk about it. Dr. Christine Hoven.

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