NPR

After Hurricane Katrina, Many People Found New Strength

A long-term study of people who survived Hurricane Katrina found that most were doing well, and some feel the experience transformed them. But others remain haunted by anxiety and depression.
A Houston resident walks through waist-deep water while evacuating her home after severe flooding following Hurricane Harvey in north Houston. / Win McNamee / Getty Images

Long after the floodwaters recede and the debris is cleared, the mental health impacts of disasters like hurricanes can linger.

Psychologist Jean Rhodes of the University of Massachusetts-Boston has spent more than a decade studying what happens to people years after a natural disaster — in this case, Hurricane Katrina.

She and her team had been studying the health of young parents attending community college in New Orleans starting.

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