Daily HealthBeat Tip

The effects linger

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I'm Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

Long after calamity ends, suffering can continue � as post-traumatic stress disorder. Sandro Galea of the University of Michigan reviewed mental aftershocks of disasters from a 1963 landslide and flood in Italy to the September 11th terror attacks in the United States in 2001.

"Anywhere from a tenth to a third of those who initially have psychiatric illness post-traumatic stress go on to have symptoms six months beyond an event and probably keep those symptoms for years thereafter." (12 seconds)

Galea says victims can learn to understand and control their symptoms, which can include severe anxiety and depression, but it can take therapy and sometimes drugs.

His study, in Epidemiologic Reviews, was supported by the National Institutes of Health.

Learn more at www.hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I'm Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: September 11, 2006

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