Washington University to study mental health of World Trade Cen

ST. LOUIS -- A new study led by Washington University in St. Louis will research the mental-health impact of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on survivors who worked inside the World Trade Center.

The university will get a $2.5 million grant for the study.

"It's important to understand long-term mental-health effects, to appreciate the mental-health problems and the needs of the people involved so services and interventions can be designed," said Carol North, the Washington University psychiatry professor heading the study.

This is the first study to concentrate on the employees inside the trade center instead of the Manhattan population, North said.

Investigators plan to interview 400 survivors and their spouses or partners as part of the study. They will examine how soon survivors should return to work and whether employers should hold memorial services or counseling.

North has also done studies on victims of earthquakes, floods, plane crashes and the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.