THURSDAY, Sept. 8, 2005 (HealthDay News) -- Faced with the enormity of their losses, many survivors of Hurricane Katrina are experiencing depths of emotional trauma that even specialists barely understand.
Not only did many victims lose their homes and family members, but countless numbers were literally cast adrift for days with little or no help from society. Psychologists simply haven't spent much time studying this kind of devastating multiple blow, said Mary Ann Dutton, a professor of psychiatry at Georgetown University.
"One kind of traumatic experience piled on another makes for more complicated effects," Dutton explained. "Most of our research is focused on a single kind of trauma."
To make matters even more challenging, many of the survivors come from poor and often-challenging environments, suggesting they're no strangers to trauma. Unfortunately, mental-health experts say that the old saying -- "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger" -- is hardly a universal truth.
"That's not to say that people don't develop or gain strength from having endured traumas. They do," Dutton said. "But it's not that they're more invulnerable than the next person because they've been through it already."
Mental-health professionals are at shelters housing most of the more than 180,000 displaced residents of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. And perhaps most importantly, thousands of families and complete strangers are taking these "refugees" into their homes.
The last part is crucial, said Esther Giller, president and CEO of the Sidran Institute for Traumatic Stress Education in Baltimore. In terms of mental health, "at this early stage, it's probably most helpful to simply provide the kind of stability that they don't have in their lives" right now, she said.
"That may mean a warm bed, a hot meal, access to telephone, whatever help they need in trying to contact loved ones or work through the immediate crisis in terms of food, clothing, shelter," Giller explained.
However, stability is hardly a cure-all for the immediate aftereffects of trauma. Even in new homes and shelters, survivors will encounter a variety of feelings, from numbness to shock to anger, Giller said. And many will temporarily lose their ability to function, becoming confused and disoriented.
"They'll have difficulty making decisions, and won't be able to really remember things," Giller said. "All of this is perfectly normal in a post-traumatic situation."
The people who help the survivors, including shelter workers, should keep this in mind, she said. "It's important for (them) to understand that a victim's inability to cooperate may not be just stubbornness or anger or resentment. It may be the cognitive impact of having been through this overwhelming kind of thing."
Dutton fears some of the most lasting emotional damage will come from anger over the manmade aspects of the disaster -- the slow rescue of scores of people left in attics and on rooftops by rising floodwaters in the aftermath, for instance.
"It's a sort of betrayal of trust by a society and infrastructure, by a government whose role is to provide emergency services but failed to do that, she said."
Giller acknowledges that the big picture sounds grim.
But she added, many survivors will meet the most significant challenge of their lives.
"The thing that needs to be fostered the most," she said, "is hope."
More information
For more on disaster relief efforts, head to the American Red Cross.
