Study: Hurricanes Can Cause Long-Term Mental Distress

Discuss the recovery and aftermath of landfalling hurricanes. Please be sensitive to those that have been directly impacted. Political threads will be deleted without notice. This is the place to come together not divide.

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CentralFlGal
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Study: Hurricanes Can Cause Long-Term Mental Distress

#1 Postby CentralFlGal » Fri May 12, 2006 8:24 pm

POSTED: 4:23 pm EDT May 12, 2006
UPDATED: 5:25 pm EDT May 12, 2006

TALLAHASSEE -- A study by Tallahassee researchers shows that a hurricane can cause long-term mental health problems.

Sociologists at Florida State University studied adolescents who went through Hurricane Andrew in 1992 and discovered some were more likely to suffer mental health problems years later.

The study examined nearly 1,000 adolescents impacted by Hurricane Andrew.

The researchers predict even more dire consequences for people who went through Hurricane Katrina.

They said more of those victims will face a higher risk of mental health problems for years to come.

Researches hope the study will prompt emergency response workers to place more emphasis on intervention efforts for hurricane victims.

The study is published in the Journal of Social Forces.

http://www.local6.com/news/9208320/detail.html

I can't get access to the study in the aforementioned journal through my university, but I did find a more in-depth article on it:


Tropical depression: Hurricane linked to long-term mental distress
by John M. Grohol, Psy.D.
May 11, 2006

Florida State University sociologists in Tallahassee, Fla. have found that some South Floridians who survived 1992’s Hurricane Andrew suffered mental health problems many years later, a finding that has led the researchers to predict even more dire consequences for those who lived through last year’s devastating Hurricane Katrina.

The researchers, sociology doctoral student and lead author David Russell and professors John Taylor and Donald Lloyd, presented their findings at the 2006 annual meeting of the Southern Sociological Society held recently in New Orleans. Although the short-term mental health consequences of Hurricane Andrew have been documented, this study of adolescents is the first to show that it had long-term effects on mental health.

“We found that people who experienced prior stressful events and who had pre-existing symptoms of psychological distress were more adversely affected by exposure to hurricane-related stressful events,” Russell said.

“Based on our findings, we believe intervention efforts should include assessments of the prior experiences and psychological well-being of disaster victims. Doing so will aid response workers in identifying those most at risk for developing post-disaster psychological problems.”

The findings suggest that the mental health consequences of Hurricane Katrina, which struck the Gulf Coast on Aug. 29, 2005, will be even greater. Although the storms were similar in strength, the human and economic costs associated with Katrina far exceeded those of Andrew. Deaths associated with Katrina were more than 50 times greater than those attributed to Andrew, and economic analysts predict that the total economic cost of Katrina will surpass $200 billion, which is more than five times the cost of Andrew.

“We believe that victims of Hurricane Katrina will be at an increased risk for mental health problems for many years to come,” Russell said. “The extent of damage was widespread and hundreds of thousands of people were displaced from their homes and families. Those aspects of the storm mean that many people were exposed to some degree of adversity, and that puts them at greater risk for mental health problems both immediately and over a long period of time.”

Delays in rescuing people who were stranded by the flooding in New Orleans compounded the anguish of the Katrina survivors, the researchers noted.

“The slow response by governmental agencies to rescue the victims produced feelings of hopelessness, isolation and anger,” Russell said. “In the meantime, exposure to human carnage has placed victims and recovery workers at great risk for a wide array of psychological problems.”

Hurricane Andrew, a Category 5 storm on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale, hit South Florida on Aug. 24, 1992. The hurricane caused 25 deaths in Miami-Dade County alone. At the time, the damage inflicted by Andrew was unprecedented in U.S. history with total economic losses estimated at $35 billion. More than 250,000 people were left homeless, and the community’s recovery from the storm took years.

The researchers studied data from 975 Miami-Dade County adolescents who lived through Hurricane Andrew to assess psychological distress before, during and five to seven years after the storm. They measured disruption by counting the occurrence of five events: damage to one’s home; being away from home for longer than a week; injury to a family member; having one or both parents lose a job; and having to stay in a shelter.

Not only did Andrew cause emotional distress immediately following the hurricane, the researchers found that it indirectly affected mental health years later. The storm of emotion following the hurricane increased risk for certain stressful life events, such as failing a grade in school, being sent away from home or having to live away from parents.

Russell said the findings likely underestimated the true psychological impact of Hurricane Andrew because those most adversely affected by the hurricane may have relocated from the Miami-Dade area, and thus would have been left out of the follow-up surveys. In addition, the study measured some but not all of the common experiences associated with the disaster, such as perceptions of safety during the storm, loss of personal belongings and living without electricity and adequate food or water after the storm.

Source: Florida State University

http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2006/05/11/tropical-depression-hurricane-linked-to-long-term-mental-distress/
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#2 Postby Audrey2Katrina » Fri May 12, 2006 9:48 pm

This doesn't surprise me at all. Wait till they add the studies from around this area. They have estimates running as high as 50% of the Katrina returnees are suffering from PTSD. I see what all this is doing to people around here every day, and depression is the order of the day. A lot of us are doing our level best to put on a good face; but every time you see the reality of what's happened... it's like a gut-shot all over again.

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#3 Postby HurryKane » Fri May 12, 2006 10:59 pm

Yeah, that's kind of a big fat 'duh.' If it weren't for the happy pills, many of my friends would have gone off the deep end long ago. :(
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#4 Postby sunny » Sat May 13, 2006 6:32 am

Linda and I were talking about this the other day. People seem to think everything is just A-Okay down here and we are all just living life as normal (before August 29th). Don't we all wish...... The stress has been unimaginable. Not only have people lost homes, many lost jobs, a lot of major relationship broke up over this. And that's just the adults. My sister has been helping out at my nephew's school, and they had some psychologists come in a few months back to talk to the kids. They asked the kids to draw pictures of how the hurricane affected them and how they were feeling now. She came home crying at what these children are STILL going through.
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#5 Postby Aquawind » Sat May 13, 2006 7:09 am

I think the stress is way to much for many and they are really in denial and have given up on real preparation plans. Plus they keep hearing this active period will continue for maybe 2 more decades. Many are just sacrificing their belongings and bet the farm they will be ok. Living in hurricane prone areas has become very stressfull and people have only become to realize that after 2 years. You just wait until these areas with blue tarps really get whollaped with a major. :( The Gov't is still trying to improve but the idea of self responsibilty is more than many can or want to take on..
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#6 Postby sunny » Sat May 13, 2006 7:34 am

Also true, Paul. We still have a lot of blue roofs out there - looks like a bunch of friggin IHOPS out there...
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#7 Postby Audrey2Katrina » Sat May 13, 2006 9:56 am

I teach kids every day who've had all levels of mental impact from this storm. I can still see the faces of the kids who transferred to our school from areas like St. Bernard, Plaquemines, and Lakeview--(we had quite a few from the St. Dominick and Mt. Carmel area).. they were great kids but my heart went out to them hearing what they've been through. I also remember what it was like the first time the Archdiocese relocated them to "satellite" schools back in the city to get them closer to their original schools. They'd come back and tell me about their busrides daily past the devastation to these satellite islands amid the ruin. That will have an impact on them for the rest of their lives. Still, I find kids more resilient than adults. In time, they do bounce back--the adults, meanwhile, go into denial and frequently dwell on it (worry--and who can blame them, the "ignorance is bliss" statement comes to mind) until depession sets in deeper. Personal responsibility is something almost all the folks I know have taken quite seriously; however when you're not upper-to-high income, or young enough to make drastic alterations in your life plans, and your entire life has been turned topsy-turvey, it doesn't do much for anxiety levels.

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#8 Postby MSRobi911 » Tue May 16, 2006 12:46 am

If it wasn't for my lovely little blue pills...(Zoloft) I would be in Whitfield today!, probably not, but pretty close to it.....you can't help it. Some of my friends that had houses left to fix have used shopping as a anti-depression tool...they shop and buy things to make them happy....hopefully they won't run out of money too soon :) :)

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#9 Postby TSmith274 » Tue May 16, 2006 1:29 am

If you want to see what these people are going through, I found an excellent report by WWL TV Ch4 in New Orleans. Go to the following link...http://www.wwltv.com/video/index2.html. Then, scroll down to "Action Report: Hurricane hero finally gets FEMA trailer keys after living in a tent for weeks (05/15)". Click on that and just watch the story. Even I got a little egg in my throat with this one. I wanted to go help with his house myself. On a side note, this old man has the good 'ole New Orleans accent. Make sure you watch it. He even gives a little thanks to people from Mississippi who called to help.
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#10 Postby Bluefrog » Wed May 17, 2006 2:51 pm

prozac prozac prozac :eek: :roll: :wink: :cheesy: :ggreen:
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#11 Postby LAwxrgal » Sun May 21, 2006 9:54 am

^ Too true. But yeah, this one's from the "I Told You So" file. There are STILL a lot of blue roofs around here, and we're just beginning to wrap up repairs to our house, days before the NEXT hurricane season....
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#12 Postby FloridaGirl » Thu May 25, 2006 10:22 am

I remember when Opal came through my area. Weeks after the storm, I would try to sleep, but kept hearing the cracking of trees as if they were falling and would wake up terrified. I realized that I was suffering from severe stress from hearing all those trees falling around us and waiting for one of them to fall into the house. It took a while before I quit having those nightmares.

This time around, I feel better since we have had the majority of the trees removed.
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#13 Postby Audrey2Katrina » Thu May 25, 2006 4:36 pm

Same here... sad though it is... a LOT of majestic trees were removed from around here because of their proximity to houses.... a HUGE number of them were completely uprooted, many damaging houses in their fall.

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#14 Postby Jack8631 » Thu May 25, 2006 5:47 pm

I hope they didn't spend too much money on that research. Seems common sense that if your life is disrupted (negatively impacted) by an event, it might cause, or at least bring to the surface, previously undiscovered anxiety and other long term psychological problems.

It is absolutely nothing to be afraid of or feel guilty about. It's common nature. Friends and pets are great therapy. :)
Last edited by Jack8631 on Thu May 25, 2006 8:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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#15 Postby Extremeweatherguy » Thu May 25, 2006 6:26 pm

Every time I hear a gust of wind hit my window or if it is a windy day, I suddenly have all the memories of recent hurricanes flood back into my mind. The other day I was watching TV and for some reason my mind made me have the feeling that a hurricane was going on. I kept thinking I was hearing the wind and crashes, and it was very disturbing. Eventually I had to get up and look out the window to re-assure myself that nothing was going on.
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#16 Postby Audrey2Katrina » Thu May 25, 2006 7:09 pm

Too true... these things can make you VERY gun shy. A couple just recently told me that after "trying" to come back, they decided to move away. Every time they hear a heavy thunderstorm outside now (and we sometimes get some bad ones), they fear another levee breach. They say they simply can no longer trust our politicians, or the ACOE to protect us any more. Sad.

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#17 Postby HurryKane » Thu May 25, 2006 8:54 pm

LAwxrgal wrote:^ Too true. But yeah, this one's from the "I Told You So" file. There are STILL a lot of blue roofs around here, and we're just beginning to wrap up repairs to our house, days before the NEXT hurricane season....


I'm getting my roof fixed tomorrow (finally), and that's going a LONG way towards improving my disposition which has been in the crapper lately.

They're dispensing happy pills down here like they were candy, and with good reason.
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#18 Postby jusforsean » Fri May 26, 2006 6:43 am

You know who knows I would well imagine that for the children of NO they will be scarred for life and I can only hope that the adults and teachers around them on a daily basis surround them with love and encouragment and they will be stronger and be o.k. It bugs me out how the newspaper and news over here at least and everywhere i am sure talks about how bad the evacuees did on testing how behind the are , well DUH first of all they are coming from a different cirriculum mabey thats why or perhaps the real life action movie they just lived thru, either way when they hear theis or read this it implants a seed and they think that is what they are. As for us here in Southflorida, everyone has there own level of what they went thru for us it is Wilma and my kids watched NO on t.v. praying for them everyday but everytime there is a storm approaching here there is fear in the house and the other night we were under a tornadoe watch I was a wreck. The funniest part was there was a power outage yesterday for like 6 hours some trouble on a line and I found myself in Wilma mode, cleaining, cleaning out the fridge I felt like de ja vu :) Now I have a plan B if we are hit again I wouldnt keep putting my kids thru this its enough , once they carried their house to the curb , if there is a next time we are out of here as much as I love it here.
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