Boston Strong as Marathon Goes On; MH Help Still Available

Runners took off this morning in the Boston Marathon, two years after the bombing that claimed three lives and left 257 injured. A jury on April 8 convicted Dzhokhar Tsarnaev on 30 counts related to the crime.

The Boston-area health care system responded well to the immediate disaster thanks to extensive prior training, said Frederick Stoddard, M.D. (left), a psychiatrist at the Massachusetts General Hospital. However, some of those wounded in 2013 or members of their families continue to face the physical and psychological consequences of the bombing. 

Since then, many have turned for help to the Massachusetts Resiliency Center, created by the state’s Office of Victim Assistance.

“We’re helping normal people dealing with abnormal circumstances that disrupt daily functioning,” the center’s executive director, Kermit Crawford, Ph.D., told Psychiatric News. He is an associate professor of psychiatry at Boston University Medical Campus. “We are a hub for services, not just providing them ourselves but coordinating with other agencies.”

The center addresses not only behavioral health issues but also matters relating to employment, compensation, medical services, brain injury, hearing loss, caregiver and peer support, and legal services—all of which can affect victims or their survivors. During the recent trial, the center placed clinicians and patient navigators in the court building for survivors or family members who chose to attend. Such options for care may be needed for some time.

“As a psychiatrist, I understand that reactions to trauma may not occur right away but often come out months or years later,” said Brent Forester, M.D., a geriatric psychiatrist at McLean Hospital who completed the 2013 marathon. “It’s important to get that message out.”

For more in Psychiatric News about the response to the Boston Marathon bombing, see “Boston Continues to Heal as Trial Wraps Up for Accused Marathon Bomber” and “Psychiatrists Act Quickly After Bombings In Boston.”

The book Disaster Psychiatry: Readiness, Evaluation, and Treatment is available from American Psychiatric Publishing at http://www.appi.org/SearchCenter/Pages/SearchDetail.aspx?ItemId=7217.

--aml  (Image: Courtesy Frederick Stoddard)

Massachusetts District Branch, APA Respond to Boston Tragedy

APA President Dilip Jeste, M.D., contacted the Massachusetts Psychiatric Society (MPS) today, offering APA’s sympathies and assistance in the wake of the bombing of the Boston Marathon. “We know our colleagues may be called upon to deal with the mental health consequences that may arise from this traumatic event, and we are confident they will meet this challenge,” wrote Jeste to the MPS’s president and executive director. “There is no doubt that, as we have done so many times in the past, we all will emerge from this horrific event with a renewed sense of unity, resilience, and strength.” Jeste said APA's Committee on Psychiatric Dimensions of Disasters, chaired by Robert Ursano, M.D., and the Office of International Activities are involved in the district branch’s response to the tragedy.

Todd Holzman, M.D., MPS’s disaster liaison, told Psychiatric News that the district branch is coordinating support and relief efforts with the Red Cross and has asked MPS members to let the DB know of their availability as volunteers. He said psychiatrists were also being asked to let MPS know whether they had any institutional or practice needs for which the MPS can offer support and expertise. The MPS has been working with APA’s Committee on Psychiatric Dimensions of Disasters and other APA members who are expert in disaster-related issues to gather information for posting on its Web site.

Luckily, the MPS had held a training program last spring on disaster response, and about 60 psychiatrists and mental health professionals were certified by the Red Cross, said Holzman, “Even though the Boston area is known as a rich and sophisticated area—with many outstanding academic and medical institutions—it doesn’t reduce suffering or the need for a strong psychiatric response to help the many people in our city who are affected by yesterday’s events,” said Holzman. "I want everyone to know that we are grateful for the offerings of help and support from APA and our friends and colleagues throughout the country. They have given us an emotional hug.”

One of the sources of information the MPS is using is American Psychiatric Publishing's Disaster Psychiatry: Readiness, Evaluation, and Treatment by Frederick J. Stoddard Jr., M.D., Anand Pandya, M.D., and Craig L. Katz, M.D. Stoddard, a clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard and on the staff of Massachusetts General Hospital, is among those providing assistance in the Boston area.

(AP Photo/Charles Krupa)