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American Morning

Survey Suggests Concerns About Terror Threats Taking Toll on Americans' Psyches

Aired June 12, 2002 - 08:39   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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: A new survey suggests that concerns about terror threats are taking a toll on the psyches of many Americans, and that comes as an alleged dirty bomb plot has put many Americans further out there on edge. How can people respond to such stress and what can parents do to help ease some of their children's fears? Well, we got the guy to figure that all out. Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us to discuss the fear factor. He's come to the city he loves and adores. After bashing New York, I can't believe you have the nerve to get on a plane and come spend a day or two with us.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: No, no, I have no fear of the city at all, Paula. I love the city.

ZAHN: We're not going to let you live those comments down. We won't bore you with the details with what he did to slight our dear city last week, but I'll never forget.

Let's go back to more serious things here.

GUPTA: Yes, you know, fear factor I think is a good name for it, and certainly, it's not surprising. A lot of details we heard about the toll on the American psyche, depression and post-traumatic stress. You and I have talked about that. We've seen lots of numbers. How bad is the problem. There's lots of numbers out there. It depends who you ask. But I think more remarkable than that is really the individual stories that we hear so much about. You know, one thing, people send us in e-mails after our segments that we have, Paula, and so of these are really remarkable. People are at home writing these e-mails into us. Let's take a look at one them right now.

"I frequently find myself envisioning my own death, or the loss of a loved one at the hands of these terrorists. The murder of Daniel Pearl hit me like a ton of bricks, and I can't escape thoughts of the brutal details which play over and over in my mind like a movie."

Now, no question this is sort of a remarkable e-mail, and these are the sorts of things that people are thinking about, talking about, sending us, but having said that, Paula, we're also getting the sense from talking to a lot of psychologist that it's a very resilient community here in Manhattan, very resilient across the United States. The rates of depression, rates of post-traumatic stress, the number of people that are turning to substances, all those things are going down over the last several months. And yet, you wonder eventually what the impact is of stream after stream of these warnings. You know, first, it's dirty bombs and the use, perhaps of people underwater coming on shore bringing materials, harbors, power plants. It goes on and on and on.

GUPTA: Right, and a lot of people are concerned about that. This is a really concrete thing we heard about the dirty bomb. They caught somebody who may have been plotting this, so it's something that people -- it really sticks in their mind, but there are tips for that, too. One thing they say don't do, is don't stop what you're doing, don't stop your activities of daily life. There are real some real solid tips in terms of how to sort of deal with that. One of them being, you know, keep up, first of all, with your normal daily routine.

Limit exposure to news outlets. Paula, this is something that we talked about a lot here as well. There is a lot of news out there. You need to make sense of it. Don't isolate yourself, but maybe not saturating either would be OK. Share your feelings...

ZAHN: You're the first CNN employee that's actually advised people not to watch TV.

GUPTA: I think there does get to be a point where you become oversaturated with it, and it's different than isolating yourself from it.

ZAHN: Let's move on to children.

GUPTA: Yes.

ZAHN: Because all of us as parents, particularly those of us who live here, have been asked very troubling questions by your children, and then a period of time goes on when they stop asking questions, and you wonder how much they're internalizing. And advice for the young kids out there?

GUPTA: Well, it's admittedly very challenging. But I think there are some concrete tips out there for kids as well. And you know, we have some tips -- we've gone to lots of different psychologists and talked to people. And here are some concrete tips for the kids as well. One thing, first of all, there's an e-mail that sort of addresses that question, that point that you made. It was a particularly remarkable e-mail that someone sent us over the last couple of days and put it up on the screen, very smart 9-year-old boy, and he's aware of what's going on.

And asked me -- this is asking his mother -- "If you don't want me to die, why do you let me go to school? Why do you let me go to the park, the mall? My answer was, in order to be alive, you have to live." And I think that -- I mean, that's what's out there, Paula. That's the sort of conversations kids and their parents are having, and it's important probably to have those conversations, and here are some tips on how to foster those conversations, and how to get the best sort of things for your kids. Again, with the kids, reassure them they're not likely to be attacked. That's really important. People are so focused on possibilities, they forget the outcomes. The outcome of anything happening to any particular individual is still extremely small, and it's important to focus on that. Openly discuss their fears with them. Don't belittle their fears. If they ask you questions, talk about them with them. Don't say things like they'll go -- a lot of people went to sleep, as opposed to a lot of people dying. These are important things.

And also take clear actions to show that their safety is important to you, whether it be walking them to the bus. It may help their safety, but more than that, it sends them a signal that the parents are -- their loved ones are concerned about their safety.

ZAHN: Very good tips, but I'll tell you, it's been a tough six months for those of us with little kids, because you don't want to give them too much information.

GUPTA: Right.

ZAHN: And yet you know at school they'll pick up in some cases wrong information, and it is a very tricky balancing act. And also expressing some of your own fears by not belittling their fears.

GUPTA: Absolutely, having conversations with your kids have very important, no question.

ZAHN: Very good advice. Thank you, Sanjay.

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