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on this somber sunday it's time as always for "sunday house call." joining us, dr. david somati. >> dr. marc siegel is here, associate prefers of medicine at langle medical center. both doctors have surely attended to victims in tragic situations so we wanted to start there. good morning to both of you. >> good morning. >> we're going to dedicate much

of "sunday house call" to serious health issues that follow the aftermath of a tragedy like sandy hook where on friday a gunman killed 26 people, including 20 little children. traumatic events have real and lasting effects on a wide range of people from families of the victims to the survivors and their families. also the first responders. we don't want to forget them. and also people watching the events on tv. what do you think we need to keep in mind at this time? >> the first thing we need to do is come together as a country. this is another example of another 9/11 and it's 9/12. the entire country got together and united as a nation. that's how we're going to heal and care for each other. look, this is a big impact. you don't have to be in connecticut to feel this. i was watching this yesterday. i have two kids.

6-year-old and 10-year-old and it's very emotional. >> what are you allowing them to know? >> i only feed them a certain amount. i don't want them to watch everything. i want them to become stronger. i'm a surgeon so i dive right in and said look, this is what happened. what is your thought? and my son alex told me that, dad, that's why i'm learning karate. i'm going to defend myself and my teacher. my daughter is sad and said why is this happening? the discussion of evil and people snapping, which is what we hear on the media, doesn't make sense. i don't think they're evil, it's psychological issues and a combination of family core, whether it has to do with a mom taking him with this rifle and guns, it's a cultureal issue,

maybe too many video games but there's a psychological effect. this is a face of a psyche. asperger's and autism is not a prerequisite to violence. they're kind, caring, good people in a family that nurtures them. autism plus psychosis can turn into a monitor. nobody will wake up and say today i'm going to start shooting people. they're around us. as a doctor, we need to diagnose this first before they get us. i have called off on people that i thought looked odd. they're usually shy. they don't interact. there's no eye contact. we know them. it's not bully them. we need to make sure teachers and society is aware and make it there for all of us.

>> try to recognize us. before we started, this young man went through things that a lot of us do. a divorce, a brother who didn't talk to him, a father who was also not talking to him. but a lot of us experience that. >> you know, first of all, i think we need to work on the mental health infrastructure in this country. we don't know if this person was in treatment, if he was in treatment, someone should look back and said did he get enough, was it effective. david made points about underlying problems that might not be related to this. people need to know just because someone thinks something out and has a plan, i'm going to drive to that school. it looks cold and calculated but it can esily be psychotic, delusional. he came up with something in his mind where these children represented something else than what they were. this seems like a very severely

disturbed individual who did not snap in one minute. >> something i want to ask, we're going to take a break and continue to talk about this. wethey will do an autopsy on ths young man and i'm curious to ask you if there's anything in the brain that might explain this. we'll take a quick break. explaining a tragedy like the one in connecticut to children can be hard. school week is looming tomorrow and there's a conversation you may want to have. when we come back, the doctors you know and trust every week are going to offer you tips on how to best do that. ♪

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forgiveness. as many of us go to spiritual services today, we'll pray for those families and try to find in our hearts room for the assailant, the accused. one of the things we wonder as we move forward is we talk about what we can do in schools to make our kids safer and learn from a tragedy like this. what can be learned from this suspect? this assailant. >> we can assume not everybody is the same. all people with certain mental health conditions, asperger's, autistic, personality disorder. >> maybe he was on drugs. >> maybe he was on drugs. there may be something they'll find in the autopsy about drug use. it sounds psychotic, like he was

thinking things that weren't rule. plenty of people have these problems that don't do something like. this we don't want to be afraid of people with mental health conditions, this is as no, ma'amically -- astronomically small. the chances of a schizophrenic becoming violent is very small. the kids themselves, we have a lot of precedent on this. there's been a number of school shootings. the first thing we need to tell our children is, if they ask, you answer the question that's asked. homicide, only less than 1% occur in schools so the chances of this occurring in your child's school is very low but our children need to learn compassion and empathy for the victims. almost 600 kids filed out of that school knowing they might not make it to christmas. told to follow an order.

we have a flight or fight response where you see harm and the first thing you do is freeze. animals do, we do. then we get outpouring of hormones. >> my heater is race -- heart is racing just as you describe the flee. these are little children, how are they affected by a scenario like that? >> look, what we've -- we've said a lot of maybes in the past and mark brings an important point. we don't want to judge people or profile people but at some point we need to stop this. i think the time will come that the maybes have to go to the side and we have to deal with this. schools have to become safer. monday morning, the first question will be am i going to be safe? you're not sure. now, it is rare but it's also quite often and we're seeing them in shopping malls, in movie theaters, now in our school.

this happens all the time of the way to deal with this is stick with the kids and watch them carefully. signs and symptoms will come. everyone deals with it in a different way. some kids may start to not be affected. some may have headaches. if there's a change, a stomach pain, if they're not eating well. it's okay to break the rules and let them in the bedroom and hug them and keep them with you. they need the care and love because they need our protection. >> obviously, besides our kids, there's no report yesterday that lanza received psychological help. what do you do to prevent this if you see something like this? >> first you have to hopefully have more of a reachout program for people with mental illness and get them in treatment. we've seen too many shootings, the one in colorado, where there were warning signs that psychiatric personnel overlooked. in terms of the kids, for the

kids that are survivors, ptsd in adults usually see flashbacks, for kids, they may work it out in play. they may get angry, sad, dis associated and feel alone. these are the survivors. studies show people in the community have this problem and there's something called vicarious distress. we need to look out for the survivors, and people in the united states. >> we'll have more on what you can tell your children and how you can deal with that and prevent these horrible tragedies from occurring in the future. we'll be right back.

back now with "sunday house call." adam lanza's brother said'd personality disorder. we talked about the stresses in his life. how do you recognize deep problems in someone you love?

where do you get help and can you force someone to get help? what happens if someone's troubled and in your household? what can people do? >> we need to support them. we need to care for them. not leave them alone. i think the problem happens -- we're going to learn more as the story pans out but there was a divorce in 2009. so the leading figure in the family is gone. the father is not in the picture. the brother hasn't talked to him for about two years. that's a huge impact. mom is working, trying to run the family. you have a loaner, shy -- loner, shy kid with a psychological background exposed to rifles. the debate on whether you should have guns is not for today. semiautomatic rifles, they're not safe to have in the hands of someone who is not completely intact mentally.

plus the fact there's a huge pressure in society on this kid. perhaps there's bullying we don't know about. when he walked in the hallway, he would go to the corner and hide. if you diagnose it, you get help, we can prevent it. >> apparently he was taken out of school and homeschooled at some point. should the school system have caught it and addressed it? they may have. >> you look for changes in behavior. is someone that was sleeping at night not sleeping. are they getting out of bed? are they depressed? there was a report he carried a briefcase where before he carried something else. he was removed from people. are people's social patterns changing. >> the parents are trying to protect their kids. mom and dad are trying to

protect their kids. they're not going to report them to the principals, so the question is how do you report them. how do you say we have a problem? >> your point about guns is excellent. the idea this mother has outrageous assault weapons in a house with a son with mental health problems. >> she's a victim herself. >> let's go to one more topic if we can on this. when we come back, many parents are grappling on how to talk to their kids and the doctors have figured out how to do it with theirs about a shooting that happened as a place that's supposed to be safe. valuable tips on how to start that conversation. the doctors want to weigh in on the heroes, the teachers that sprung into action. [ sniffs ] i have a cold.

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>> jamie: talking to your kids about what happened as you prepare them to go back to school on monday. doctor, you told us how much or how little you cold your kids. what advice do you have? >> for kid, don't be afraid to tell your parents. anything is normal. anything that's bothering you, share with your parents. and they may need to get you support. at the scene, we are seeing yale university bringing in a crisis center, which is terrific, helping a lot in the long term. but i want to point out about the courage of the teachers at the school. i want my kids and every kid to focus on the courage of the teachers who brought the kids to safety. the same part of the brain that fear is in. >> jamie: adrenalin, practice drills and concern for the children led them to pay the ultimate sacrifice. >> we need to limit the