Psychiatrist Summoned to Moscow to Help Ease Suffering in Breslan, Russia

Main Category: Psychology / Psychiatry
Article Date: 26 Sep 2004 - 0:00 PDT

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Robert Cancro, MD, Chairman of the NYU School of Medicine's Department of Psychiatry, has been invited to bring a team of psychiatrists to Moscow to assist the members of the Moscow Research Institute of Psychiatry in coping with the aftermath of the terrorist attack on the people of Beslan. Professor V. N. Krasnov, Director of the Institute and President of the Russian Society of Psychiatrists appealed to Dr. Cancro "as one of the leaders in modern psychiatry and psychosocial rehabilitation with the offer to take cooperative measures to organize a Trans-institutional Center of psychological and psychiatric care for the victims of terrorist attacks and other emergencies."

At a time of international chaos, two world leaders in the prevention and treatment of mental illness will come together in an unprecedented show of solidarity and cooperation for the sake of the people affected by this tragedy. Over 300 people were killed, almost half of them children.

"The resistance to terrorism links all members of the civilized community. This link must continue after we have rid the world of the horrors visited upon us. As humans, we have been tarnished by evil but only temporarily" said Dr. Cancro.

The goal of the trip is to establish an ongoing partnership that will lead to the development of common approaches to treatment and rehabilitation of victims of terrorist attacks and other emergencies taking into account both acute and long term changes in the health of children, adolescents and adults. This will include training of specialists, development of educational materials, and joint scientific research. In addition, they intend to raise money to provide scholarships for exchange students and to bring children and adolescents from Beslan to the United States.

He will be accompanied by Eugene West, M.D., Eugene Zubkov, M.D., both fluent in Russian, and Michele Squitieri, Program Manager of the Mental Illness Prevention Center. They will attend the annual meeting of the Russian Society of Psychiatrists to be held October 5th, 6th, and 7th in Moscow

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