Preexisting mental illness and risk for developing a new disorder after hurricane Katrina.

To investigate predisaster mental illness as a risk factor of poor postdisaster mental health outcomes, veterans with (n = 249) and without (n = 250) preexisting mental illness residing in the Gulf Coast during Hurricane Katrina were surveyed after Katrina and screened for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, generalized anxiety disorder, and panic. Logistic regression examined the association between preexisting mental disorders and positive screens after the hurricane, adjusting for demographics and exposure to hurricane-related stressors. The odds of screening positive for any new mental disorder were 6.

Effects of pre- and post-Katrina nonviolent and violent experiences on male veterans' psychological functioning.

Background: Identifying individuals at risk for mental health problems after a disaster often involves assessing potentially traumatic exposures inherent to the disaster. Survivors of disasters also may have been exposed, both before and during the event, to trauma not directly related to the disaster. A substantial literature suggests exposure to interpersonal violence may have more severe negative outcomes than exposure to non-violent events; however, it is unclear whether violent vs nonviolent exposures before and during a disaster have differential effects on postdisaster psychological functioning.