Steve Ellen, Adjunct Associate Professor of Psychiatry

4BC Summer Mornings:

"A terrorist attack is likely"

"An increase in terrorist chatter"

Statements of this kind are becoming more common in everyday life but how do we as individuals respond emotionally and psychologically?

Steve Ellen, Adjunct Associate Professor of Psychiatry explains our most common reaction…

"Initially it's always shock then the next stage is bargaining (what could we have done to avoid this), then anger"

After an event like the Sydney siege has occurred we all have our own feelings and opinions.

Chris Adams asked Professor Ellen for advice on how we can relate our feelings to our friends and family or even our children.

"Firstly you acknowledge your fear, think about it, but you put it into perspective and you make sure you give yourself a bit of time to recover"

"With children you have to balance the information with fear. You don't want to tell your kids to go to sleep worrying; you want to tell them the situation is under control"