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CNN Sunday Morning
Interview With Michelle Yu, Steven Wolin
Aired October 13, 2002 - 11:48 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.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Like terrorism, the sniper attacks break down our social contract, the belief that we have a right to live in safety. So how can we overcome our fears? We'll ask our guests, Dr. Steven Wolin is a practicing psychiatrist and professor at George Washington University, and he is also a co-author of the "Resilient Self." Thanks for joining us. And Michelle Yu is PTA president of Montgomery County, Maryland where the first string of attacks occurred. And good to see you.
All right, thanks very much. Michelle, let me begin with you. I have a copy of a letter that you distributed to the parents and other PTA members, instructors, et cetera, commending them on helping one another cope, as well as sort of empathizing with everyone on the level of stress that everyone is experiencing. So what is the advice, perhaps, being distributed to teachers and parents to help comfort the kids beyond this letter?
MICHELLE YU, PRESIDENT, MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MD PTA: There are a lot of valuable resources being given out from the school system and the county organization, such as the Mental Health Association.
But our main advice will be twofold, for both parents and how they help with their kids, because as parents, we need to take care of both ourselves and our children. And so we advise parents to, first, get in touch with their own anxiety. And it will be very helpful for them to talk with other adults when they try to maintain their daily routine as normal as possible.
In the meantime, for parents to help their kids, we like to focus on two goals. One is this actual physical safety. The other one will be the emotional safety. And for actual physical safety, children need to understand why their activities are being limited. Without magnifying the fear, we want them to know the facts, the truth in their age-appropriate ways, so that they understand well enough to cooperate with our restrictions, and behave in the self-protective way that will keep them safe. For example, they will not sneak out to the playground or to the mall.
And for the emotional safety, we want to ensure the emotional safety. We need to help them process this in the way that they'll retain their faith in the world that is still safe, kind and meaningful. We want them to be grounded to the meaning of life.
WHITFIELD: OK. Well, let me ask you this, Michelle, real quick: What are the observations perhaps that parents and even teachers have made of the children? What are children, since they are among the most vulnerable here, and feeling unsafe suddenly, are these kids openly discussing their fears? Are an awful lot of parents and teachers observing that there are an awful lot of kids who are a lot more withdrawn, perhaps?
YU: Yes, indeed.
WHITFIELD: They might be the ones you worry about the most, right?
YU: Indeed. And there is a wide range of emotions in coping with these attacks. Some are just panicking. And some are in the denial stage. They think it won't happen to me. So it's very important that parents talk to them and listen what they hear, what they see, and give them a chance to express their fear without magnifying it.
WHITFIELD: OK, hold on right there, Ms. Yu. Let me bring in Dr. Wolin. Dr. Wolin, you know, as she was just saying, an awful lot of kids are withdrawn, and some kids are talking very openly about their fears et cetera, but really, it is an overall fear that so many people have, that they can't even go out their doors now. You know, as they walk to their cars or if they're walking to school, walking to work, without feeling like they just might be a target. So what is the advice, if anything? Do you encourage people to stay as abreast of current news and information as possible? Or do they need to take time to kind of shut it off for a moment?
DR. STEVEN WOLIN, AUTHOR, "RESILIENT SELF": Well, in terms of the information, Fredricka, I'm concerned about people getting flooded with too much information from the media. I think that it's very helpful, as Michelle said, for the community to stay together and to remain informed. But I get very worried about the flooding of people's emotions on television broadcasts like the ones that you're showing right now, where people feel like they are in the middle of a crisis that is totally out of their control. And they really feel overwhelmed and alone in their despair when they see grief-stricken parents and family members.
WHITFIELD: It sounds like it's almost as if there needs to be some advice distributed to help people process the information that they're seeing, the pictures that they're looking at. How best to process all of this, or how best to selectively, you know, think about or kind of be controlled by the information that they're seeing and feeling?
WOLIN: Yes, it would be very good if we had a simple way to advise people to process information. I think that people will do well if they remember that we have many blessings here in the community that I've called our social contract. That is, we have a belief that we can walk in the street among strangers, going to the mall, going to the apartment houses and office buildings that we work in, and be safe. And that is a crucial element of the fabric of our lives, and we need to retain this.
And it's getting fractured by all of the unsolved mysteries of crimes in our community. Personally and professionally, I'm very concerned about this fragmenting of our social contract.
WHITFIELD: All right, Dr. Wolin, thank you. And Ms. Yu, real quick, if I could just ask you, are you all, the PTA or the school district, consulting police or police consulting you all to help in distributing information?
YU: No, not really. But I want to emphasize the importance of parents being the role model of their children. When we watch TV with them, we need to make it a teachable moment. And role model the courage and behavior.
WHITFIELD: No, Michelle Yu of the Montgomery County PTA, and Dr. Steve Wolin, thank you very much, both of you, for joining us.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired October 13, 2002 - 11:48 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Like terrorism, the sniper attacks break down our social contract, the belief that we have a right to live in safety. So how can we overcome our fears? We'll ask our guests, Dr. Steven Wolin is a practicing psychiatrist and professor at George Washington University, and he is also a co-author of the "Resilient Self." Thanks for joining us. And Michelle Yu is PTA president of Montgomery County, Maryland where the first string of attacks occurred. And good to see you.
All right, thanks very much. Michelle, let me begin with you. I have a copy of a letter that you distributed to the parents and other PTA members, instructors, et cetera, commending them on helping one another cope, as well as sort of empathizing with everyone on the level of stress that everyone is experiencing. So what is the advice, perhaps, being distributed to teachers and parents to help comfort the kids beyond this letter?
MICHELLE YU, PRESIDENT, MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MD PTA: There are a lot of valuable resources being given out from the school system and the county organization, such as the Mental Health Association.
But our main advice will be twofold, for both parents and how they help with their kids, because as parents, we need to take care of both ourselves and our children. And so we advise parents to, first, get in touch with their own anxiety. And it will be very helpful for them to talk with other adults when they try to maintain their daily routine as normal as possible.
In the meantime, for parents to help their kids, we like to focus on two goals. One is this actual physical safety. The other one will be the emotional safety. And for actual physical safety, children need to understand why their activities are being limited. Without magnifying the fear, we want them to know the facts, the truth in their age-appropriate ways, so that they understand well enough to cooperate with our restrictions, and behave in the self-protective way that will keep them safe. For example, they will not sneak out to the playground or to the mall.
And for the emotional safety, we want to ensure the emotional safety. We need to help them process this in the way that they'll retain their faith in the world that is still safe, kind and meaningful. We want them to be grounded to the meaning of life.
WHITFIELD: OK. Well, let me ask you this, Michelle, real quick: What are the observations perhaps that parents and even teachers have made of the children? What are children, since they are among the most vulnerable here, and feeling unsafe suddenly, are these kids openly discussing their fears? Are an awful lot of parents and teachers observing that there are an awful lot of kids who are a lot more withdrawn, perhaps?
YU: Yes, indeed.
WHITFIELD: They might be the ones you worry about the most, right?
YU: Indeed. And there is a wide range of emotions in coping with these attacks. Some are just panicking. And some are in the denial stage. They think it won't happen to me. So it's very important that parents talk to them and listen what they hear, what they see, and give them a chance to express their fear without magnifying it.
WHITFIELD: OK, hold on right there, Ms. Yu. Let me bring in Dr. Wolin. Dr. Wolin, you know, as she was just saying, an awful lot of kids are withdrawn, and some kids are talking very openly about their fears et cetera, but really, it is an overall fear that so many people have, that they can't even go out their doors now. You know, as they walk to their cars or if they're walking to school, walking to work, without feeling like they just might be a target. So what is the advice, if anything? Do you encourage people to stay as abreast of current news and information as possible? Or do they need to take time to kind of shut it off for a moment?
DR. STEVEN WOLIN, AUTHOR, "RESILIENT SELF": Well, in terms of the information, Fredricka, I'm concerned about people getting flooded with too much information from the media. I think that it's very helpful, as Michelle said, for the community to stay together and to remain informed. But I get very worried about the flooding of people's emotions on television broadcasts like the ones that you're showing right now, where people feel like they are in the middle of a crisis that is totally out of their control. And they really feel overwhelmed and alone in their despair when they see grief-stricken parents and family members.
WHITFIELD: It sounds like it's almost as if there needs to be some advice distributed to help people process the information that they're seeing, the pictures that they're looking at. How best to process all of this, or how best to selectively, you know, think about or kind of be controlled by the information that they're seeing and feeling?
WOLIN: Yes, it would be very good if we had a simple way to advise people to process information. I think that people will do well if they remember that we have many blessings here in the community that I've called our social contract. That is, we have a belief that we can walk in the street among strangers, going to the mall, going to the apartment houses and office buildings that we work in, and be safe. And that is a crucial element of the fabric of our lives, and we need to retain this.
And it's getting fractured by all of the unsolved mysteries of crimes in our community. Personally and professionally, I'm very concerned about this fragmenting of our social contract.
WHITFIELD: All right, Dr. Wolin, thank you. And Ms. Yu, real quick, if I could just ask you, are you all, the PTA or the school district, consulting police or police consulting you all to help in distributing information?
YU: No, not really. But I want to emphasize the importance of parents being the role model of their children. When we watch TV with them, we need to make it a teachable moment. And role model the courage and behavior.
WHITFIELD: No, Michelle Yu of the Montgomery County PTA, and Dr. Steve Wolin, thank you very much, both of you, for joining us.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
