Assembly Hears from Experts on September 11 Tragedy

“The psychiatrists in New York City did a wonderful job [in response to the terrorist attacks on September 11], but I think the psychological problems are yet to come.” So asserted S. Arshad Husain, M.D., at last month’s Assembly meeting in Washington, D.C. Husain is an authority on trauma psychiatry and a past winner of the Assembly’s Profile of Courage Award for his work in Bosnia. He is also president-elect of the World Islamic Association for Mental Health.

Husain was one of the presenters at the Speaker-Elect Forum, whose theme was “911: Assembly Responses to the Events of September 11, 2001.”

Husain noted that that psychological impact of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on New York City school children is by no means over, and that months from now—exactly how many is hard to say—these youngsters may need mental health services.

Other presenters at the session, organized by APA Assembly Speaker-elect Albert Gaw, M.D., were Bernard S. Arons, M.D., director of the federal Center for Mental Health Services; James Nininger, M.D., of the New York State Psychiatric Association; Bruce Ballard, M.D., of the New York County District Branch; Jeffrey Akman, M.D., of the Washington Psychiatric Society; Thomas Grieger, M.D., of the Society of Uniformed Services Physicians; and Darrel Regier, M.D., head of APA’s Office of Research and the American Psychiatric Institute for Research and Education.

Several DBs were honored for their response to the terrorist attacks on September 11. Original article: See story below.