Exposure to Hurricane-Related Stressors and Mental Illness After Hurricane Katrina

Abstract

It is well established that natural disasters lead to increased prevalence of mental illness in the range of 5% to 40%,^1,2 although most increases are in the lower half of this range.^3-8 Much of the between-disaster variation is likely due to differential disaster severity and exposure,⁹ as indicated by the fact that studies of people who experienced devastating loss in major natural disasters consistently document high prevalence of mental illness.^1,10 Assessment of individual stressors in natural disasters is nonetheless challenging, and our understanding of their effects on postdisaster mental illness remains limited.