BAW: Mental, Emotional Toll on Katrina Victims as Devastating as Storm Itself

BAW: Mental, Emotional Toll on Katrina Victims as Devastating as Storm Itself: "As the death toll rises in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the emotional and physical resolve of survivors is likely to be tested day in and day out.

There are reports of widespread looting and carjacking in New Orleans and the tempers of many of the roughly 25,000 refugees housed in the Louisiana Superdome have escalated as air conditioning, water, and food have become impossible to access.

It’s enough, some say, to make people question how and why something so devastating could happen. It’s also enough to push people over the edge.

“Many of these people have lost everything and many don’t even realize yet that they’ve lost everything,” Pauline Clansy, Ph.D., told BlackAmericaWeb.com Wednesday from her Houston office. A member of the Texas State Board of Examiners of Psychologists, Clansy said the obvious -- that looting and violence is, for many, a last resort to dealing with the trauma that the storm has caused."