Churches battling post-Katrina depression

"We always believe the word of God can help in all situations. But also there are times when people have psychological issues, and we need to make referrals."

By Russell McCulley  |  August 13, 2006

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - African-American ministers, accustomed to providing spiritual guidance to their congregations, are helping members cope with serious mental and emotional disorders nearly a year after Hurricane Katrina hit.

"It is, at times, overwhelming," said Rev. Larry Campbell, assistant pastor of Israelite Baptist Church in the Central City neighborhood. He has counseled worshipers with substance abuse problems and suicidal thoughts, referring some to mental health professionals, when possible.

"There's a sense of hopelessness as it relates to, 'When are we going to get this city back to where it was?"'

A church which collapsed in the floodwaters of Hurricane Katrina rests on street corner in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans on November 15, 2005. (REUTERS/Lucas Jackson)

Katrina killed 1,339 according to the National Hurricane Center. It flooded 80 percent of the city, and most New Orleans residents evacuated. Only about half the population is back and the city is slowly rebuilding.

African-American churches, like the communities they served, were hit hard, and many are still struggling to regroup.

"They are being called upon to do all kinds of phenomenal things, in terms of dealing with the loss and the pain," said Jennifer Jones-Bridgett, director of PICO LIFT, a statewide interfaith coalition of churches.

Ministers, Jones-Bridgett said, report being overwhelmed by the anxiety, depression and frustration with the slow pace of recovery expressed by many residents of the storm-ravaged city.

"They are dealing with these concerns in their own personal lives, as well as in the lives of members of the congregation who are coming home," she said.

Black ministers were on the forefront of the Civil Rights movement here, and local church-run benevolent societies have a long tradition of helping needy members.

Religious institutions often supplement scanty city services by organizing anti-crime efforts or establishing community health clinics in poor neighborhoods.

"These were the vulnerable people to start with," said University of California at Los Angeles psychologist Vickie Mays. "And the city services that weren't working well before, now really aren't working at all."

Studies conducted in Katrina's wake have found significant increases in substance abuse, depression and suicide.

But only 22 of the 196 psychiatrists who practiced in New Orleans have returned, according to a report published this month in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

A state-run psychiatric hospital re-opened last week with 10 adult beds, a fraction of what was available before the storm.

As the city waits for its share of $80 million in federal relief funds allocated for rebuilding the state's mental health care infrastructure, local pastors are being called upon to fill the void.

Mays, in town for the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association this weekend, helped organize a workshop for local clergy to help them identify and refer people with serious mental health problems.

For ministers like Campbell, the effort will help augment the church's spiritual mission.

"We always believe the word of God can help in all situations," he said. "But also there are times when people have psychological issues, and we need to make referrals."

Comments

[stephen rosenberg]

this article got me depressed I just can't believe that we in this country can't help .We realy need stong gov leadership and serious organization.Most people don't have the money or the resourses , but together we can.

[Mind Mart]

How can we offer them services when all our money goes to support his 'war'? I see this lack of services in the VA as well. Money for bullets and none for people.

[jimi]

There is no Soviet Union anymore, but everybody remember those great victories and defeats. We trusted in idea and we made our history through great losses...M.S. Gorbachyov http://www.backinussr.com/

[Mike Artherton]

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[Rob feels pain and suffeting]

Some of your users may not even remember the events. Please let me refresh their memory...

Hurricane Katrina was the costliest and one of the five deadliest hurricanes in the history of the United States. It was the sixth-strongest Atlantic hurricane ever recorded and the third-strongest hurricane on record that made landfall in the United States. Katrina formed on August 23 during the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season and caused devastation along much of the north-central Gulf Coast. The most severe loss of life and property damage occurred in New Orleans, Louisiana, which flooded as the levee system catastrophically failed, in many cases hours after the storm had moved inland. The hurricane caused severe destruction across the entire Mississippi coast and into Alabama, as far as 100 miles (160 km) from the storm's center. Katrina was the eleventh tropical storm, fifth hurricane, third major hurricane, and second Category 5 hurricane of the 2005 Atlantic season.

It formed over the Bahamas on August 23, 2005, and crossed southern Florida as a moderate Category 1 hurricane, causing some deaths and flooding there, before strengthening rapidly in the Gulf of Mexico and becoming one of the strongest hurricanes on record while at sea. The storm weakened before making its second and third landfalls as a Category 3 storm on the morning of August 29 in southeast Louisiana and at the Louisiana/Mississippi state line, respectively.

The storm surge caused severe damage along the Gulf Coast, devastating the Mississippi cities of Waveland, Bay St. Louis, Pass Christian, Long Beach, Gulfport, Biloxi, Ocean Springs, and Pascagoula. In Louisiana, the federal flood protection system in New Orleans failed in more than fifty places. Nearly every levee in metro New Orleans breached as Hurricane Katrina passed east of the city, subsequently flooding 80% of the city and many areas of neighboring parishes for weeks.

At least 1,836 people lost their lives in Hurricane Katrina and in the subsequent floods, making it the deadliest U.S. hurricane since the 1928 Okeechobee Hurricane. The storm is estimated to have been responsible for $81.2 billion (2005 U.S. dollars) in damage, making it the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history. The catastrophic failure of the flood protection in New Orleans prompted immediate review of the Army Corps of Engineers, which has, by congressional mandate, sole responsibility for design and construction of the flood protection. There was also widespread criticism of the federal, state and local governments' reaction to the storm, which resulted in an investigation by the U.S. Congress, and the resignation of Federal Emergency Management Agency director Michael D. Brown. Conversely, the National Hurricane Center and National Weather Service were widely commended for accurate forecasts and abundant lead time.