Question

Hurricane Katrina Presentation:

1. Introduction

• Description of Hurricane Katrina

2. Prevalence of this trauma:

• Statistics

• Information about who is most affected and at-risk for this particular traumatic experience:

3. Impact of this particular trauma:

• Features that make this trauma different from other types of trauma

4. Treatment:

• Recommended treatment for individuals who experience this type of trauma:

5. Prognosis:

• The prognosis for individuals who experience this type of trauma (e.g., Is the impact generally long-lasting? Do most of these individuals experience PTSD? How likely are these individuals to overcome the impact of their trauma?)

6. Conclusion paragraph:

Answer 1

Hurricane Katrina Presentation:

1. Introduction

Hurricane Katrina can be considered as one of the most devastating natural disasters throughout the U.S. History. In addition to the physical devastation, the hurricane was also correlated with the number of Mental Health issues among the survivors of the disaster. It slammed the gulf coast, leading to physical damage and community loss.

The impacted areas have been associated with a number of stresses like property loss, the risk of death, lack of access to food and clothing, and more chances of being exposed to violence.

It has been shown that the incident has a very strong Association between the trauma (disaster-related) and incidence of post-traumatic stress disorder among the survivors.

2. Prevalence of this trauma:

The estimated loss was around $100 billion, moreover, more than a thousand people were killed, and around 500000 were displaced due to this incident. It has been shown that African American single mothers (having a low annual income) were especially at more risk of psychological symptoms and chances of developing post traumatic stress disorder. Moreover, individuals having chronic problems were also at risk of various traumatic symptoms.

3. Impact of this particular trauma

The specific outcomes of this devastating event resulted in an investigation of  the relationship of the hurricane and post traumatic stress disorder by various researchers. In a survey, it was revealed that more than 50% of the people had symptoms of the PTSD.

Various studies also informed that there was a relationship between Gulf storm and mental health problems in the affected population. The impact of Hurricane was so intense that the majority of the adults did not recover from the symptoms even after 18 months.

4. Treatment

There were a number of Mental Health Treatment plans (that have an emphasis on crisis intervention) were planned for the survivors. It has been found that cognitive behavioral therapy is useful for adults and youth in treating the PTSD after the traumatic event. Moreover, if the symptoms are serious, psychotherapy sessions are considered to be effective.

5. Prognosis

It was estimated in the study that almost all the adults having PTSD did not recover from the symptoms even after the 18 to 27 months duration. There is a crucial importance of the exposure of the trauma in determining how the course of illness will be and the following recovery process. It was also found that other social-demographic factors such as social support, psycho pathology history and stresses related to the hurricane did not have any relation to the recovery process of PTSD.

THUS, the trauma highlights the importance of intervention programs that should be designed to overcome the negative impact of the hurricane on the survivors.