Holiday Blues Hit Katrina Victims

Experts Say 500,000 May Need Mental Health Services This Season

(AP) 
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."