Study finds Coast worse than N.O.

Harvard looks at the signs of mental illness

By JOSHUA NORMAN
jdnormanb@sunherald.com

Ronald Kessler, director of Harvard Medical School's Katrina Community Advisory Group, testified before Congress last week that "undetermined stress and/or vulnerability factors are present among people from (areas other than metro New Orleans affected by Katrina) that should lead policy makers to focus attention on the needs of these people and not to concentrate only on New Orleans."

This was a conclusion drawn from a follow-up study his group conducted that indicated that the overall mental health of Gulf Coast residents was getting worse.

"The biggest increase in mental health problems was outside the New Orleans metro area," said Kessler by phone on Friday, adding that New Orleans still has overall higher rates of mental illnesses.

For example, the percentage of people showing signs of any mental illness actually decreased from 44.3 percent in metro New Orleans to 41.8 percent. In the rest of their survey area, the percentage of people showing signs of any mental illness increased from 26.9 percent to 31.7 percent.

While the survey provided no conclusion for the dramatic increases in places like Mississippi, Kessler said there could be several explanations.

"What was special was what happened in New Orleans," said Kessler, citing the number of deaths and duration of the crisis. "On the other hand, New Orleans is getting the bulk of media attention. (Everyone else affected by Katrina is) feeling like they're the left-out stepchild of the situation."

The traditional problems of rural health care, such as the presence of treatment providers, could be an issue for non-metro New Orleans areas.

Overall, the increase in mental illnesses post-Katrina across the Gulf Coast bucks the post-disaster recovery trend. While PTSD rates have been known to increase with time in war veterans, normally the negative mental effects of disaster-related trauma go down.

This unusual increase in mental illnesses is seen in all races and socioeconomic statuses.

There was at least one positive conclusion from the study.

"It is one of those things where disasters create opportunities to ask for help where they may of not have asked before," Kessler said. "When we do typical surveys, when you go to the general population, (we ask,) 'How come you're not in treatment?' Most say, 'I want to handle it on my own.' You do not see that in this population. "

That change, however, gives way to another set of issues on post-disaster situations.

"There's an unmet demand," said Kessler, adding that is mostly due to the lack of sufficient numbers of mental health treatment providers on the Gulf Coast.

Joshua Norman is a media fellow with the Henry J. Kasier Family Foundation reporting on post-Katrina mental health and trauma recovery.