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Emergency Mental Health Services for Children After the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001

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Abstract

Much literature documents elevated psychiatric symptoms among adults after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 (9/11). We, however, know of no research in children that examines emergency mental health services following 9/11. We test whether children’s emergency services for crisis mental health care rose above expected values in September 2001. We applied time-series methods to California Medicaid claims (1999–2003; N = 127,200 visits). Findings in California indicate an 8.7 % increase of children’s emergency mental health visits statistically attributable to 9/11. Non-Hispanic white more than African American children account for this acute rise in emergency services.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Program in Public Health & Department of Planning, Policy, and Design, University of California, Irvine, 300 Social Ecology I, Irvine, CA, 92697-7075, USA

    Tim A. Bruckner

  2. Department of Planning, Policy, and Design, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

    Yonsu Kim & Amrita Singh

  3. Program in Public Health, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

    Pauline Lubens

  4. Division of Health Policy and Management, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA

    Lonnie Snowden

  5. Department of Emergency Medicine, School of Medicine, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

    Bharath Chakravarthy

Authors
  1. Tim A. Bruckner
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  2. Yonsu Kim
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  3. Pauline Lubens
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  4. Amrita Singh
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  5. Lonnie Snowden
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  6. Bharath Chakravarthy
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Correspondence to Tim A. Bruckner.

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Bruckner, T.A., Kim, Y., Lubens, P. et al. Emergency Mental Health Services for Children After the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001. Adm Policy Ment Health 43, 44–51 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10488-014-0619-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10488-014-0619-4

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