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

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.