COPING

Rebounding from September 11 was especially difficult for people with preexisting psychiatric conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). One in three psychotherapy patients developed PTSD-like symptoms after the attacks, compared with only 13 percent of general medical outpatients, according to Laurel Franklin, Ph.D., a research associate in the department of psychiatry and human behavior at Brown University.

Forty-one percent of patients with PTSD felt that their emotional health deteriorated after the 11th. Franklin was surprised to find that patients who knew victims personally--some 3 percent of the 308 respondents--were not at increased risk of developing immediate psychiatric symptoms.

"This was contrary to our hypothesis and contrary to the literature," says Franklin, who assessed patients two weeks and four months after the attacks and will continue to monitor subjects for signs of PTSD.

Interestingly, a Duke University survey of 2,273 people found no evidence of increased post-traumatic stress in respondents with a personal connection to the attacks.

Franklin will present her findings at the American Psychiatric Association annual meeting in May.

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