Depression, anxiety still common complaints after Sept. 11

A war, terrorism and the sluggish economy have left many at-risk patients struggling to cope.

By Victoria Stagg Elliott, AMNews staff. Jan. 7, 2002.

On Sept. 11, 2001, there were three fender-benders at the Stanford University School of Medicine. The parking lot at the California school was turned into a strange landscape, littered with briefcases left behind by distracted drivers who put them on the ground to unlock car doors.

On the surface, these events are simple, minor incidents. But some experts say they're also a sign of trauma.

"People thought they were doing fine, but they drove cars into one another," said David Spiegel, MD, a professor at Stanford's Dept. of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. "Emotion affects cognition. It makes it difficult to carry on our usual routine."

But the catalyst for such emotion goes beyond the events of that terrible day. The disaster combined with the anthrax scare and a sputtering economy has led physicians to report that they are seeing more depression, anxiety and insomnia among their patients. Patients who are already struggling with mental health issues appear to be getting worse.

"The issues are particularly acute in New York, Pennsylvania and the D.C.-Virginia region, but as someone practicing in northern Vermont, I can tell you that the impact is not at all limited to these areas. It is clearly widespread, and it appears to be continuing," said David Fassler, MD, a child and adolescent psychiatrist from Burlington. Referrals to his practice have increased 25%.

Numbers nationwide are equally noteworthy. Isis Research, a pharmaceutical market research agency based in Columbia, Md., and Cozint Inc., a health care marketing company based in Andover, Mass., surveyed physicians and found that 43% were prescribing more medications for depression and anxiety since Sept. 11. One in four had increased their referrals for counseling. [...]