NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Obama have reportedly offered to sing “Kumbaya” and have it played on a continuous loop.
(Courier Mail) — TRAUMA experts have called for images of the 2001 terrorist attacks in the US to be restricted to adult viewing times, particularly in disaster-saturated Queensland.
Internationally renowned psychiatrist Beverley Raphael said the images in the lead-up to the 10th anniversary of the attacks could traumatise children, particularly those vulnerable after this year’s floods and cyclones.
“If a child has had traumas, like the terror of the floods, seeing something new which is horrible or frightening can act on a child’s vulnerability,” she said. “There was clear evidence after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. . . that some children developed post-traumatic stress disorder just from viewing images.
“Research has made clear cumulative adversity increases risk, so caution about repeated or continued replaying images of 9/11 with the coming anniversary will be important.”
Professor Raphael chair of the Australian Child and Adolescent Trauma, Loss and Grief Network at the Australian National University said, ideally, images should not be shown during children’s viewing times.
But, she said, if children were exposed to chilling pictures, parents should comfort them and answer questions honestly: “They should say: ‘This is a terrible thing. People were very brave. Most people got through it, but some, sadly, didn’t.'”