TRAUMA experts have called for images of the 2001 terrorist attacks in the US to be restricted to adult viewing times, particularly in disaster-saturated Queensland.

Internationally renowned psychiatrist Beverley Raphael said the images in the lead-up to the 10th anniversary of the attacks could traumatise children, particularly those vulnerable after this year's floods and cyclones.

"If a child has had traumas, like the terror of the floods, seeing something new which is horrible or frightening can act on a child's vulnerability," she said. "There was clear evidence after the 9/11 terrorist attacks ... that some children developed post-traumatic stress disorder just from viewing images.

"Research has made clear cumulative adversity increases risk, so caution about repeated or continued replaying images of 9/11 with the coming anniversary will be important."

Professor Raphael chair of the Australian Child and Adolescent Trauma, Loss and Grief Network at the Australian National University said, ideally, images should not be shown during children's viewing times.

But, she said, if children were exposed to chilling pictures, parents should comfort them and answer questions honestly: "They should say: 'This is a terrible thing. People were very brave. Most people got through it, but some, sadly, didn't.'"

Brisbane child psychiatrist Brett McDermott chair of Queensland Health's child and youth disaster response said 9/11 images could trigger nightmares and flashbacks in children haunted by the floods and cyclones. "If a child saw images of people who were very scared, it might increase their memory of their own experience.

"We know that traumatic memories are part of the brain called the amygdala, which is the fear centre, so they feel fear watching the imagery and it triggers their own fearful response."

Associate Professor McDermott said pre-school aged children were vulnerable just by watching disturbing images on television, because they were too young to interpret them appropriately.

"After 9/11, we found many little children thought hundreds of buildings had fallen down because they saw the image from different angles, many times."

www.earlytraumagrief.anu.edu.au

Originally published as 'Shield kids from 9/11 images'