Mental health effort for Katrina kids wane

NEW ORLEANS, Oct. 19 (UPI) -- Strong initial mental health efforts by schools for New Orleans children displaced by Hurricane Katrina aren't being sustained, a study found.

Lead author Lisa H. Jaycox, a psychologist at the Rand Corp., a nonprofit research organization based in Santa Monica, Calif., said students with post-traumatic stress disorder or post-hurricane anxiety might appear to be fine and show up for school every day, but many struggle. Many of the students have nightmares, are hyper-vigilant, easily startled, irritable, depressed or want to avoid things that remind them of the trauma, which can include the loss of family, pets and their homes, the study reported in the Psychiatric Services.

"Mental health responses were good during the early part of the crisis, but most schools were not able to sustain their efforts," Jaycox said in a statement. "Schools need to respond not only in the weeks following a disaster but for the months and years afterward when lingering mental health problems start showing up."

Some of the barriers to continued mental health services for the some 200,000 children displaced by hurricanes Katrina and Rita are: problems communicating with parents -- some have no phone service, pressure to "get back to normal," inadequate resources, insufficient staff training and burnout among staff.