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PTSD Increase in Gulf Coast

August 23, 2007

MSNBC.com  reports that the survey, supported by the National Institutes of Health and the World Health Organization, is a follow-up to a study completed six months after Hurricane Katrina. The initial report found that approximately 3 percent of people in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama had considered suicide after the storm.

Ron Kessler, the lead researcher for the Hurricane Katrina Community Advisory Group, reports that the figure has now doubled in the tri-state region and is up to 8 percent in the New Orleans area.

In a related story, the National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare (NCCBH) released a survey of mental health providers in New Orleans and Baton Rouge that shows four out of five providers saw an increase in post-traumatic stress disorder (93%), major depression (91%), general anxiety disorder (84%) and substance-related disorders (83%).

Read the press release (PDF) and executive summary (PDF).

NAMI PTSD Fact Sheet

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