NY SALES OF ANTI-DEPRESSANTS SURGE

NEW YORK (AP) - Sales of anti-anxiety drugs, anti-depressants and sleep
aids have surged since last month's terrorist attacks, particularly in New
York, as the nation struggled with everything from survivor guilt to
depression.

In the weeks after terrorists turned airplanes into missiles that destroyed
the World Trade Center and part of the Pentagon, new prescriptions for
sleep aids rose 27.5 percent in New York City, where 4,776 remain missing
and 384 are confirmed dead.

New prescriptions for anti-anxiety drugs rose 25 percent, and new
prescriptions for anti-depressants jumped 17 percent from the week before
the attack to the week ended Sep. 28, according to NDCHealth, which gleaned
the figures from retail sales.

Psychiatrist Richard Pearlman has found himself prescribing more medication
than he usually would, but said "this situation is far from usual."

"Patients think if they use medication they can come to grips with what
happened," he said. "But people shouldn't try to sweep emotions under the
rug. We need to all work through what happened."

In Washington, D.C., new prescriptions for anti-anxiety drugs and
anti-depressants each jumped about 13 percent, while prescriptions for
sleep aids increased 8.8 percent, Atlanta-based NDCHealth said.

Nationally, new prescriptions for anti-anxiety medications jumped 8.6
percent, prescriptions for sleep aids rose 7.5 percent and anti-depressants
only grew 2.6 percent.

Experts say it is too soon to say whether the trend will continue, but no
one is expecting an immediate decline.

"I think we are going to stay high but it won't go through the roof," said
Dr. Craig Katz, the director of Psychiatric Emergency Services at Mount
Sinai Hospital in New York. "Some people will improve and not need
medication, but if we are doing our outreach correctly there will be more
people taking their place."

Katz and a team of psychiatrists has been doing outreach at the center
where families of victims of the Trade Center collapse receive social
services. He has recommended further therapy to between one-third to one
half of patients he has seen.

Dr. Gail Saltz said she has seen a pronounced increase in her business -
and not just from those directly effected from the crisis.

Saltz says her practice has increased by 25 percent and about half her new
patients don't have any direct connection to the tragedy.

"These people just feel they have no control over their lives," said Saltz.
She has prescribed sleeping medication for three of her new patients
because she felt the added rest would makes them less agitated and depressed.

Pearlman, who is acting chair of the behavioral health Service division of
the Staten Island region of St. Vincent Catholic Medical Centers of New
York, said both his private practice and visits to the hospital's mental
health clinics are up 50 percent, and he doesn't expect a downshift soon.

"This is not a problem that is going away. It is not like we had a tornado
and it's over and we can rebuild," said Pearlman. "People are worried about
more attacks."