Post-Katrina depression triples New Orleans suicide rate

by Matthew Penix
07/03/2006

The annual suicide rate has increased from nine per 100,000 before the storm to more than 26 per 100,000 after Katrina.

Shauna James stood trembling in the kitchen before hanging up the phone. Her mind raced. Her body shivered. Was it true?

She finally slid down the wall to the tile floor where she huddled in a ball crying for more than an hour. A colleague, in deep depression after Hurricane Katrina, had taken his own life.

“I just don’t know what to say,” James said. “This world has messed with us all.” 

Her story reflects one of more than 30 suicides in the New Orleans area post-Katrina. Suicide rates have nearly tripled in the 11 months since the Crescent City levees broke, and experts say New Orleans is experiencing an epidemic of depression and post-traumatic stress that crosses all socio-economic lines.

Dr. Jeffrey Rouse, the deputy New Orleans coroner dealing with psychiatric cases, estimates the annual suicide rate at less than nine per 100,000 residents before the storm. It’s since increased to more than 26 per 100,000, he said.

The real number is likely higher, said Dr. Lee Tynes, director of the Jefferson Parish Human Service Agency. Many self-inflicted deaths remain officially unclassified or wrongly described as accidents, he said.

“Plus we don’t even know about the thousands that have evacuated and not returned,” Tynes said. “The enormity of the destruction when somebody returns to find their business gone or employees lost are constant reminders that perhaps play a factor (in depression) that we’ll never know.”

Devastating effects

The effects are even more devastating here, said Dr. Jim Arey, commander of the New Orleans Police Department’s crisis negotiation team, which rolls on SWAT team calls.

Mental health crisis centers have suffered a near collapse with most closing after Katrina, he said, leaving officers unsure of where to take patients.

Arey is demanding the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals open facilities in the area to help field 150 to 180 calls a month. The limited psychiatric wards open are all overflowing.

“You’ll see that same guy you took there that morning walking the streets that afternoon,” Arey said. “As a law enforcement officer, that is very discouraging. We see it every day.”

Arey blasted the DHH saying it has a “moral and legal responsibility to reopen” facilities. He said top DHH officials haven’t returned phone calls inquiring about opening such facilities. DHH did not return calls from CityBusiness either.

Widespread depression

New Orleans depression rates were similar to other major cities before 2005, but the mental health crisis skyrocketed after Katrina forced hundreds of thousands to evacuate, many of whom forgot medication or couldn’t find doctors to write prescriptions, he said.

“The longer you stay off your medicine, the more paranoid you become. I’ve been on most SWAT rolls since 1994 and I’ve never encountered people with high-powered weapons armed with a scope,” Arey said, referencing a recent 12-hour SWAT standoff with a mentally disturbed patient in Jefferson Parish. “We have no frame of reference for this. Depression is hurting us everywhere.”

It’s apparent in the business sector.

“I’ve seen it with some of my employees,” said Nikki Leimer, president of Medtrack Personnel Inc. in Mandeville, which also has employees in New Orleans. “But what are you going to do? This was tragic.”

According to the National Mental Health Association, depression is one of the most costly illnesses in the U.S. economy, racking up more than $43.7 billion in absenteeism, work production and treatment costs per year. That averages to about 200 million lost workdays a year, which is more time off than diabetes, arthritis back and lung patients lose combined, national health officials said.

Experts say there is hope. More than 80 percent of people with clinical depression can be successfully treated, according to the NMHA. Experts recommend an environment with soothing music and rewards. They also advise implementing an employee assistance program where depressed employees can set up anonymous appointments with trained professionals.

Something must be done, said James. “We can’t take it. I can’t take it.”•

Comments

[Cara Fletcher]

This situation is terrible.In these days more and more people are finding decision in medication to overccome depression

[Mary]

I am truly sorry to hear this news. I hope and pray that the people of this beautiful city can recover from this. There are medications that can help, and they have helped.

I will definately be thinking of you all ~
may God bless and keep you safe

[Jo]

I'm so freekin depressed...I don't know where this is going to end. Just passed the TWO year anniversary of Katrina's destruction, still in my FEMA trailer and sinking deeper and deeper into depression. Meds are not helping. Don't know where to turn. Does ANYBODY in America care?

[Carine B]

Jo, I've spent the past several weeks involved in heavy research on Katrina for a project that I am doing for my job. (I'm a professor.) I have found myself very sad during this process, and angry too. I have an outsider's memory of the horror of the days after the hurricane: I was overseas at the time, and I watched the t.v. coverage obsessively, overwhelmed with an outsider's grief. Working on this project has brought it all back -- but all the more so because I know that true relief still has not arrived for you and others like you on the Gulf Coast. If I feel this crummy and I am not a Gulf Coast resident and Katrina survivor, it is clear to me that you and others on the Gulf Coast must be feeling about 10 million times worse than I do. Please know, then, that I have brought up my feelings not to try to pretend that I, as an outsider, have a clue as to your suffering, but instead to let you know that people really *do* care, Jo. I swear we do, and there are a lot of us out here: we just don't know what to do to help. The slow progress made in the two years since the storm saddens us, makes us angry, and makes us feel for you. The press may speak of 'Katrina fatigue,' but that's B.S.: the hearts and prayers of so many of us are still with you. Jo, please hang on, and know that people you have never met and will probably never meet (folks like me!) are still praying for you and thinking about you. Jo, be safe and well. Take care, friend.

[johnson789]

I truly sorry to hears this story.there are medication that can help and they have help.I prey to god your's life is save.god bless u.
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[How to Deal with Depression]

I hope all those people are receiving free counseling and support from depression outreach programs everywhere.

It takes a lot of strength to overcome such challenging circumstances. I wish the best for all of them.

[Steelmagnolia]

I am a person that lost my older Brother to suicide in Aug 2006, almost 1 year to the date of Katrina, 4 weeks later, I lost another older Brother to Lung Cancer. The truth is that I think that my Brother's Girlfriend and her Son may have had alot to do with both my Brother's deaths, but I can't prove it. But it has been very differcult especially with the suicide.

[Taylor]

I'm from Slidell Louisiana and I lost everything depression is killing me I have no one else to turn to with this problem. :((

[Taylor]

I'm from Slidell la and depression is getting to me. It's at it's peak and I need help. I'm only 17. And I lost everything !

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