Past Events:

10th European Conference on Traumatic Stress
Mental Health and Service Utilization among Adult and Child Survivors of Hurricane Katrina
June 5-9, 2007
Opatija, Croatia

Hurricane Katrina was the most destructive and costliest natural disaster to occur in the United States. Nearly 5 million people lived in the path of Katrina, and 1.3 million lived in the New Orleans metropolitan area at the time of the hurricane. Although not in the direct path of Katrina, New Orleans was devastated by a massive flood that occurred as a result. During and after the Hurricane, more than 500,000 residents of Louisiana and Mississippi were evacuated, and more than 100,000 people were housed in temporary shelters throughout the United States. Some 233,000 square kilometers were declared a disaster area, an area approximately the same size as the land mass of the United Kingdom. The papers in this symposium provide early data on the impact of the Hurricane on survivors, in terms of mental health (especially posttraumatic stress disorder), suicidality, posttraumatic growth, and mental health service utilization. The first three papers concentrate on adults, age 18 and older, while the last paper provides insight into the effect of the Hurricane on children and adolescents. Daniel King, Chris Brewin, and Lynda King present on behalf of the Hurricane Katrina Community Advisory Group and the team of scientific collaborators who monitor that study (Ronald Kessler, Principal Investigator).

You can find more information here.

2006 ISTSS Annual Meeting
The Psychobiology of Trauma and Resilience Across The Lifespan
November 4–7, 2006
Hollywood, Calif., USA
http://www.istss.org/

Mental illness and suicidality after Hurricane Katrina
Lynda A. King, PhD, Boston University

The Hurricane Katrina Community Advisory Group (CAG) is a representative sample of survivors of Hurricane Katrina who agreed to participate in periodic surveys to monitor patterns and disparities in stress-related mental health problems and treatment of these problems. The baseline CAG survey interviewed 1043 CAG members. Identical questions were asked in the CAG survey as in the earlier National Comorbidity Survey Replication (NCS-R) about mental illness and suicidality. The post-Katrina survey also assessed several dimensions of personal growth that resulted from the trauma (for example, increased closeness to a loved one, increased religiosity). This presentation compares results of these two surveys to estimate the impact of the hurricane on the prevalence of serious mental illness and suicidality (suicidal ideation, plans, and attempts). Despite the estimated prevalence of mental illness doubling after Hurricane Katrina, the prevalence of suicidality in the CAG sample was found to be unexpectedly low. Data are presented on the role of post-traumatic personal growth in explaining this result.

Trauma exposure and PTSD among survivors of Hurricane Katrina
Sandro Galea , MD, DrPH, University of Michigan School of Public Health

The vast majority of CAG survey respondents with serious mental illness met criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder. These respondents typically reported exposure to a number of different traumatic and other stressful experiences. This presentation reviews the survey results regarding exposure to hurricane-related stressors and the associations of these stressors with mental disorders. Results are also reported on the effects of differential exposure to stress as well as of differential emotional responsiveness to stress in accounting for observed socio-demographic correlates of PTSD and other mental disorders.

Patterns and predictors of treatment for emotional problems among mentally ill survivors of Hurricane Katrina
Russell T. Jones, PhD, Virginia Tech University

Little systematic data exist on patterns of treatment of mental disorders among survivors of Hurricane Katrina. The CAG survey documents profound unmet needs for treatment in this population. This presentation results these results regarding patterns of treatment, treatment sectors and treatment adequacy, barriers to obtaining treatment, and socio-demographic correlates of unmet need for treatment. The presentation closes with a discussion of implications of these results both for addressing the current treatment needs of Katrina survivors and also for future disaster management planning.