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"It's
almost like a shotgun blast as opposed to a single bullet
to social stability," said Bryan Gros, a Baton
Rouge psychologist who works for the Mental Health Association
of Louisiana. "People are having a hard time."
Thousands
remain homeless along the Gulf Coast, where the hurricane
hit Aug. 29 and killed more than 1,300 people. It ripped
apart families and communities, and wrecked businesses.
About
half a million people - both survivors and the emergency
workers who went to their aid - may need mental health
services, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
estimates.
Seven
percent of Louisiana residents have sought psychological
counseling as a result of the storms, according to a
survey by Louisiana State University, and 53 percent
reported feeling depressed. A Katrina crisis hot line
in Mississippi got 1,100 calls in its first two months,
said Tessie Smith, spokeswoman for the state's mental
health department.
Before
Katrina, the National Suicide Prevention hot line got
an average of about 3,000 calls a month from all over
the country. Since the storm, monthly calls have more
than doubled - 7,000 in October alone - with most new
calls coming from Katrina-affected areas, said spokeswoman
April Naturale.
Gros
said suicides have spiked in Baton Rouge, and New Orleans
coroner Dr. Frank Minyard who reviewed two suicide cases
in one recent week fears more as the Christmas holiday
nears.
"We
don't have our medical system here. It's gone. That's
a big problem," Minyard said. "I think it's
going to end tragically for some of our citizens, not
only here, but who are spread out all over the country."
Life
did end tragically for Dr. Lisa Osberg-Wilson. Her New
Orleans home and nearby dermatology practice weren't
damaged in the hurricane. But most of her patients fled,
and she missed her three little girls, who were living
with relatives in Texas. Every day, on her commute to
and from work, she drove by the destruction, perhaps
worrying about the debt for a new office she was building.
Osberg-Wilson
killed herself Nov. 4, three days after her 45th birthday.
"I
just think she had the weight of the world," whispered
her brother, John Osberg of Cleveland, who said his
sister had no history of psychological problems. "Things
were going well until the storm."
Her
husband, Scott Wilson, who is also a doctor, said, "I
am very confident in my heart that this would not have
happened if the hurricane had not hit us."
He
added that he hopes his wife's death brings attention
to both post-traumatic stress disorder - a diagnosis
she got a week before she died - and the great need
for mental health services, which have been wrecked
by the storm.
Officials
in other states are scrambling to accommodate thousands
of storm survivors with mental health systems that are
already stretched.
In
Houston, which has about 150,000 evacuees, the city
used federal aid to add 40 counselors to community mental
health centers and created a network of private therapists,
said Betsy Schwartz, executive director of the Mental
Health Association of Greater Houston.
Unlike
many evacuees, who have been given Medicaid that covers
mental health care, most Houston residents in need are
uninsured, she said.
"People
who are in Houston because of Katrina have greater access
to care than the people who were there before,"
Schwartz said.
In
Biloxi, Miss., Daniel Claunch, 21, is living in a tent
because his home was destroyed by Katrina. The wholesale
battery salesman said he tries to be upbeat about what
he still has but it's a challenge.
"I've
been dealing with this whole thing one day at a time.
It is stressful late at night when I'm laying in bed
in my tent and thinking I know I can do so much better
than this, but this is how I'm going to have to start
all over," he said.
Fred
Bemak, a George Mason University psychology professor,
recently returned from a two-week trip to Mississippi
with graduate students who helped counsel more than
500 residents. The storm survivors' problems ranged
from serious depression from losing loved ones to stress
about having no holiday decorations.
Few
mental health services will be available in Mississippi
as the new year approaches - a year that for many will
begin with financial troubles, family stress and frustration.
"The
mental health needs are growing," Bemak said.
Back
in New Orleans, Joyce Reese watched workers at the Canal
Street hotel, her current home, erect a ceiling-high
Christmas tree and string white twinkling lights around
the lobby.
She
was tired, but smiling. For her, the holiday is a retreat
from sadness.
She
thinks it will be helpful for people to get their minds
off what happened and "to be thankful that you're
still here because a lot of people are not here."
But
survivors cheered up by the holidays are also at risk
of a let-down when Christmas and New Year's are over,
said Tallahassee Memorial Hospital psychologist Larry
Kubiak.
"People
put aside reality perception during the holidays for
the sake of others," he said. "Unfortunately,
that may be a temporary fix."
On
the Net:
American
Psychological Association:
http://www.apa.org/
Suicide
Prevention:
http://www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org/
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