There are ways parents can help their kids cope with lingering 9/11 stress, experts say.
A study released yesterday shows that almost 90 percent of city students suffered at least one symptom of post-traumatic stress – and 10 percent may have the disorder.
Kids who actually have post-traumatic stress disorder – and those with symptoms severe enough to interfere with their daily functioning – should get professional help, experts urge.
But unless kids have trouble functioning, such as having a problem going to school, parents should realize “this is a normal reaction to a very traumatic event and for many, the symptoms will eventually subside,” said Elizabeth Carll, a psychologist whose specialty is trauma.
“There are some things parents can do to ease a stressful situation for a child,” she said.
“For example, a traumatic event disrupts a child’s feelings of security, therefore maintaining familiar routines, meal times, sleep times can help stabilize a child who is feeling insecure.”
Alan Hilfer, a psychologist at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, said “one of the things we’ve always found to be effective is to get kids to talk about what they’re afraid of, and for parents to be reassuring.”
Talking over something a lot of people are still feeling jumpy about “takes it out of the realm of worrying and lets them let go of it,” he said.