Instead of flipping to CNN to gain some perspective about the consequences of Hurricane Katrina, University students can learn a few lessons about the realities faced by disaster victims right here on the school’s own medical campus. Psychiatry professor Barry Hong has done significant research about the mental health of past disaster victims, and can offer insight into the issues that Hurricane Katrina survivors will face in the future.

Hong’s familiarity with this area of psychiatry relates to the projects that he conducted regarding the mental health needs of the victims of the 1993 floods in the Midwest. Along with University psychiatrist Carol North, he received a grant that allowed him to address these concerns by devising a training program for community professionals. With this program, members of the community such as policemen, teachers, clergymen, and others, underwent day-long training sessions, which advised them in how to identify individuals suffering from psychological problems and to help those in need.

Based on research that demonstrated how “flood victims almost never use formal treatment resources, such as making appointments with doctors,” Hong devised this program so that these individuals could find a natural support system of mental health care.

Hong instituted a similar training program in New York City after the attacks of September 11, 2001 and has also studied the Capitol Hill workers who were exposed to anthrax, all of which has lent him a solid understanding of the typical mental health problems that plague disaster victims. Most commonly, these survivors suffer depression, and a smaller number of them-as much as 30 percent-may develop post-traumatic stress disorder.

Hong asserts that despite this rise in depression, the suicide rate do not generally increase in the immediate hours and days following a disaster. In addition, the idea that there is a spike in new cases of drinking and drug behavior is also a myth, although people who originally took part in those recreations may increase their habits after the disaster.

Despite these trends, Hong is quick to point out the faults inherent in the simplistic view that the victims of all disasters resemble each other.

“Every disaster is different…each has very unique characteristics” he explained, “and it’s a little bit of guessing to generalize from one of these to every other disaster.” Even with floods, distinct circumstances can create a wide variety of consequences. For example, the floods of 1993 differ significantly from those of Hurricane Katrina in that the continuous series of the Midwest floods meant that “people kept cleaning up their houses just to be flooded again,” and the prolonged psychological pressure created by this situation developed into many cases of depression along with fewer cases of post-traumatic stress disorder.

In contrast, Katrina included a series of discrete disasters.

“The hurricane was first, second was the flood, the third was the chaos and lack of help from state or federal sources, and the last disaster is that people are dislocated and face dilemmas about whether to return to New Orleans,” Hong said. As the damage of the ‘93 floods in St. Louis was felt mostly on property and didn’t take as many lives as Katrina, Hong speculates that New Orleans victims will face many more psychological problems, and on a far more enduring scale.

Although Hong has not yet been asked to set up any type of training program addressing the mental needs of New Orleans residents, he stated that he would be pleased to go there if invited.

“I think that there will be lots of consultants brought into New Orleans to help them restructure and train their staff,” he said.

He is currently working on a program that aims to look at the ways in which medical centers respond to these types of disasters, and hopes to spread this program to a multitude of different areas in the next few years. Along these lines, Hong predicts that another outcome of Hurricane Katrina will be a heightened demand for consultants to carry out programs like these all over the country, as more emphasis will be placed on cities’ levels of preparedness for occurrences like Katrina.

Hong’s research and involvement with these types of situations have allowed him to confidently pronounce a strong underlying message.

“People are tremendously resilient, and are able to bounce back,” even under the most dire of circumstances, Hong said.

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