Talk to Your Kids About the Colorado Killings

HealthDay – Fri, Jul 20, 2012 FRIDAY, July 20 (HealthDay News) -- As word spread Friday that a heavily armed man had shot up a suburban Denver movie theater crowded with families and children for a midnight showing of the new Batman movie, mental health experts offered guidance on how to cope with the tragedy.

While this latest act of carnage unnerved a nation still scarred by the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, psychologists said children and teens may be especially vulnerable to the early Friday shootings in Aurora, Colo., that left 12 people dead and as many as 59 others wounded.

"It would be perfectly normal for people to be more on edge right now," said Simon Rego, director of psychology training at Montefiore Medical Center and Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City. "It's a natural reaction when you hear about, experience or witness a traumatic event. You're primed to be more vigilant about what's happening to you."

But parents can do much to reassure their children that such an incident isn't likely to repeat itself anytime soon, experts said. And it's important to offer that reassurance now.

"This is clearly a very disturbed individual

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