Even thirteen years later, New Orleans still bears the visible scars of Hurricane Katrina. These scars are evident in the streets and the communities that were impacted. The uniqueness of this natural disaster, the sheer magnitude of the event, and the mental and psychological scars still linger on today (Reardon, 2015). A large portion of the wounds and consequences of Katrina are invisible, and unless you know what to look for, hard to see. Many of the Katrina survivors continue to experience mental health-related difficulties to the historic event, regardless of whether they returned to New Orleans or not (Voelker, 2010).
Most survivors showed resilience during and after Hurricane Katrina, but the psychological scars were much tougher to recover from. These mental health issues exist in a histrionic fashion, during the outcome and recovery of Hurricane Katrina (Reardon, 2015). It has been suggested that people who lived through areas ravaged by storms in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama present, develop mental-health conditions, like depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which tend to worsen over time (Math, Nirmala, Moirangthem, & Kumar, 2015). Extreme disaster survivors, despite psychological scars and PTSD, typically bounced back and from these distressed situations and persevered (Cohan & Cole, 2002). Despite this documented survivor fortitude, mental health programs are grossly insufficient.
Psychological care during disaster recovery is inadequate and doesn’t properly address PTSD, depression, and survivors guilt because the programs are small, underfunded and difficult to negotiate. Mental Health Challenges Mental health problems and symptoms of psychopathology are among the most repeated and unfavorable health outcomes after exposure to disasters (Tickle, Cheung, & Walker, 2013). These issues have been identified even with the existing and chronic underreporting. This underreporting is due to the negative stigma that is often attributed to these mental conditions (Thormar, Sijbrandij, Gersons, Schoot, Juen, Karlsson, & Olff, 2016). Almost every person associated with a community that is struck by severe disaster feels some varying degree of emotional effect (Math et al., 2015).
Some individuals will respond differently to the disaster, while others being affected will show very little signs of psychological trauma (Tickle et al., 2013). The bottom line is that mental health recovery of individuals after experiencing or witnessing a disaster is often not addressed properly. It is imperative that any community members that are deemed to be at risk or higher risk for psychopathology, need to be identified quickly and paired up with the appropriate recovery group or program (Fragedakis & Toriello, 2014). Guiding ideologies of disasters and major events is that no one goes through a disaster without being touched in one way or another. Concerns exist in most aspects of preparedness, response, and recovery, but actual behavioral health programs do not (Tickle et al., 2013).
Mental health assistance is geared more towards practical treatment rather than psychological in nature (Elrod, Hamblen, & Norris, 2006). Stress caused by disasters demonstrates what some would call normal responses to abnormal situations (Voelker, 2010). Often time’s disaster relief assistance is confusing and many survivors find themselves experiencing anger, helplessness, and feelings of frustration (Elrod et al., 2006). Disaster Survivor Significance & Implications Disasters, natural and manmade, demand quick and immediate responses from volunteers, community members, and emergency first responders.
These disasters represent a collective experience, versus a personal experience, and the events involve an uncontrollable and unexpected situation or event (Kugelmann, 2000). The efforts of these volunteers, community members, and emergency responders are directed toward the immediate physical health and the infrastructure of the community members in the aftermath of disasters (Cohan & Cole, 2002). Current emergency management programs and approaches overshadow short, mid and long-term mental health consequences of disasters (Tickle et al., 2013). Common physical and immediate responses to disasters include fear of terror, dry mouth, tense muscles, chest pain, nausea, headaches, sweating, fatigue, and pounding heart (Thormar, et al., 2016).
These physical symptoms can produce long-term effects that persist in the form of vivid memories (Cohan & Cole, 2002). During and after disasters, mortality and death, or potential death, of friends and family. Disasters and emergency response challenge and destroy basic beliefs and disrupt communities (Tickle et al., 2013). Cognitive and psychologic responses to disasters and stress include confusion, heightened or lowered alertness, poor problem solving and concentration, compromised memory, nightmares, and disorientation, just to name a few (Thormar et al., 2016). Emotional and behavioral symptoms of extreme stress include panic, anxiety, depression, denial, guilt, anger, substance abuse, and anti-social actions (Fragedakis & Toriello, 2014).
Disasters and extreme events progress through predictable linear stages that begin with the warning of a threat, the impact and actual onset of the disaster, the heroic or rescue stage, remedy phase, inventory, disillusionment and finally the recovery or reconstruction phase (Acosta, Chandra & Rangel, 2013). During response phases, there are several factors that can cause stress for responders. These sources of stress for first responders include the mismatching of tasks with skills, no teamwork, unclear guidance and expectations, lack of or too much autonomy, ineffective communication, and the intense need for real-time information before it is properly vetted (Acosta et al., 2013).
Additional first responder stressors include command and control ambiguities, resource shortages, family conflict, and other collaboration barriers (Phillips, 2015). Contributing Psychopathology Factors Many causes of mental health disorders stem from the nature of the disaster and the duration of the disaster (Math et al., 2015). Causes also include the extent of the disaster or trauma, the amount of stress and loss in the disaster, lack of control, the amount of unpredictability, and the vulnerability of disaster workers and (Elrod et al., 2006). Several vulnerability factors that can also contribute to mental health issues post disaster include socioeconomic status, minimal or scarce resources, age, social support networks, previous levels of psychopathology and the interaction of many of these factors combined (Committee on Post-Disaster Recovery of a Community’s Public Health, & Services, 2015).
