HOW CAN YOUNG SURVIVORS COPE?

By MICHAEL D. LEMONICK

Living through a bomb attack--the sudden deafening noise; the flying glass and masonry; the bloody, broken bodies and screams of the injured--is traumatic enough to throw most adults into profound shock. But if the grownups who survived the Oklahoma City explosion are numb in its aftermath, what could be going through the minds of the blast's smallest and most vulnerable victims, the children?

Although it is natural to assume that kids would be particularly devastated at seeing their safe world literally fall apart, research suggests that on average, children are no more adversely affected than adults are. That isn't to say there aren't severe emotional consequences. After the initial shock has worn off, children who have survived a shooting, explosion or natural disaster tend to be generally fearful, have trouble sleeping and have difficulty concentrating and carrying on their normal activities. Those who are especially sensitive to stress may suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder, in which the mind keeps replaying the trauma with terrifying realism. Others will deny the experience entirely, treating the disaster as a story, often as something that happened to someone else. Many become edgy and almost hyperactive.

One important way to restore these children to emotional health, say the experts, is to reassure them that their once stable world, rocked by a sudden calamity, can right itself again. Children too young to express complex feelings verbally will ask for extra attention in other ways--by regressing to immature behavior, for example, or temporarily losing skills such as toilet training, or clinging to parents or other caretakers. Older children, say psychologists, should be encouraged to ventilate their thoughts and fears. And for kids of all ages, it's important to restore a sense of stability by returning as quickly as possible to a predictable routine. For most children, says Dr. Gaston Blom, a psychiatrist at Boston University Medical School, these measures can ease the anxiety of a traumatic event within a few months.

For very young children, the healing may be much quicker. In kids under 18 months old, some specialists contend, the central nervous system is still too undeveloped for memories to become firmly established. But other experts insist that memories are stored and may resurface when children are old enough to verbalize their trauma. In any case, says Dr. Blom, "we can only give them a stable, warm environment and hope that the nervous system by its immaturity will allow them some relief."

--By Michael D. Lemonick. Reported by Alice Park/New York

With reporting by Alice Park/New York