Human Services News

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

According to the most comprehensive survey of people affected by Hurricane Katrina, results of which are being presented today to the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs Ad Hoc Subcommittee on Disaster Recovery, the percentage of pre-hurricane residents of the affected areas in Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi who have mental disorders has increased significantly compared to the situation five to eight months after the hurricane.

These findings counter a more typical pattern from previous disasters where prevalence of mental disorders decreases as time passes.

These and other survey results come from follow-up interviews with the Hurricane Community Advisory Group, a statistically representative sample of hurricane survivors assembled to provide information in a series of ongoing tracking surveys about the pace of recovery efforts and the mental health effects of these efforts on hurricane survivors.

The study is led by researchers from Harvard Medical School and is funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, FEMA, and the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services for Planning and Evaluation.

"It is important for mental health policy planners to have accurate information about the size of the problem they are trying to address among survivors of Hurricane Katrina," says Ronald Kessler, Professor of Health Care Policy at Harvard Medical School and director of the study.

The estimated prevalence of anxiety-mood disorders in the baseline survey was roughly twice as high as found three years earlier using the same measures in a survey of residents subsequently affected by Hurricane Katrina.

This low prevalence of suicidality was traced to widespread feelings of optimism that the practical problems created by the hurricane would soon be resolved.

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