For the rest of the day, I promise to give you international reports. But because of the anniversary of Katrina, studies are being released that detail the mental health of the hurricane's survivors—with conflicting results.

The Associated Press details a report from Harvard University of the results of a study funded by the National Mental Health Association. While it'd be unfair to describe the outcome as rosy, it certainly puts a relatively positive spin on things. (And yes, I realize studies aren't supposed to have spin, but the presentation of results often do.)

The AP reports that the study's key findings are:

There was a 30% rate of suspected mental illness—double the usual—after the storm. People were predictably troubled by what they lived through and lost in the disaster. Yet only 1% of these troubled survivors either thought about or planned for suicide. Before Katrina, 8% of mentally ill people from the same region had such thoughts and 4% made plans to carry out suicide.

Researchers believe this is a result of the power of positive thinking on the part of survivors. From the AP:

More than 95% of all survivors professed more faith in their ability to rebuild their lives when necessary, and 70% felt more inner strength. These beliefs seemed to fend off suicide, because only the mentally ill people holding them showed the lower suicide risk.

The study makes a strong case for this protective effect, says psychiatrist Matthew Friedman, who directs the National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome at the Department of Veterans Affairs.

"A lot of things happen in a traumatic event," said Friedman, who read an advance report of the findings. "You can have a ramping up of your psychological stress or symptoms — but at the same time it can be a positive event in a life-changing way."

Yay. The survey was conducted in Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi and included 1,043 adults. Interestingly, Reuters gave the study a completely different spin, as published in the Washington Post under the headline "Mental Illness Up Among Katrina Survivors."

Conversely, a new report conducted by the California International Medical Corps (which responds to disasters, though Katrina was the first domestic reponse) of 400 trailer-park residents is less encouraging, and indicates a mental healthcare crisis:

From Reuters:

50 percent of respondents met criteria for Major Depressive Disorder, more than seven times the U.S. national rate. •Since displacement, reported suicides are 15 times the rate in the rest of Louisiana and suicide attempts are 79 times greater. •70 percent of adults who were not able to access medical care cited financial difficulties as their main reason. •56 percent of study participants did not have any form of health insurance.

Hmm. That doesn't sound so good. Nor does Time magazine's article "The Storm Lingers on: Katrina's Psychological Toll," whose subhed is: "Depression, suicide, drinking and domestic abuse are up in New Orleans, which is ill-equipped to offer much counseling help, and the hurricane's one-year anniversary only makes it worse."