Katrina takes it's toll on survivors mental health

Aug 29 2006

Hurricane Katrina, the worst hurricane to hit the United States for seven decades has left behind it devastation well beyond that of physical damage to property.

The most expensive natural disaster in the country's history, where over half-a-million people were evacuated, has taken it's toll on not just the physical well being of the population of New Orleans and the Mississippi delta region, it has also had a serious effect on the mental health of survivors.

A survey by a Harvard team of researchers, "The Hurricane Katrina Community Advisory Group Survey", has found that the rate of serious mental illness in areas ravaged by the storm has doubled.

They suggest as many as 200,000 people from Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi are at risk of serious mental illness as a result of Katrina, and a third are suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome and two thirds from depression.

The area of the disaster encompassed almost 90,000 square miles, equivalent in size to Britain; 100 people are still missing.

The study's lead researcher Ronald Kessler, says although the rate of serious mental illness in areas devastated by the storm doubled, suicidal urges fell because survivors bonded with each other and forged stronger ties with loved ones and their community.

The Harvard-led study is the biggest mental health study following Hurricane Katrina which killed around 1,500 people along the Gulf Coast.

The survey shows that 15 percent of 1,043 survivors were diagnosed with a serious mental illness five to eight months after the storm; this compares to 6.1% before the hurricane, and 19.9% had mild-moderate mental illness, compared to 9.7% before the hurricane.

As many as 85 percent of the survivors were in dire financial straits with loss of income and housing.

The survey indicates that more than a third endured extreme physical adversity after Katrina struck and 23 percent encountered extreme psychological adversity.

Professor Kessler, says 50 percent of those who lived in New Orleans reported having nightmares about their experiences, but 88.5 percent of the survivors said Katrina had helped them develop a deeper sense of meaning or purpose in life.

The researchers compared their survey to mental health data compiled by the federal government in 2001-03 for the same area and they plan to interview the same 1,043 survivors over 7 years to track their recovery.

It seems that nearly 90 percent of the survivors had heard about the hurricane more than a day before it hit, and the majority at least three days in advance.

Up to 42 percent did not evacuate because they did not want to go, while up to 46 percent said they were unable to leave.

However 40 percent of low-income people said they were unable to leave against 6 percent of people with high incomes.

The experience has resulted in as many as 1 in 4 survivors considering relocating to another area.

The study, funded by the National Institutes of Mental Health, was published in the World Health Organization's "Bulletin," a peer-reviewed journal.