Addiction and mental-health problems remain a major challenge for health officials and communities more than a year after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina on the Gulf Coast, the Associated Press reported Nov. 9.

Experts at a Carter Center symposium on the mental-health aftermath of the storm said a lack of programs in New Orleans and other affected cities means that patients are often unable to get medicine or treatment for behavioral problems, notably depression and anxiety. In New Orleans, for example, only two of the city's 11 hospitals are operating.

Police say they are answering more domestic-violence calls and dealing with more incidents of drunkenness and fights. Involuntary commitments and suicides are up, and mental-health professionals are under strain. "It's so hard for them to deal with what they had to go through, and then to deal with clients all day long," said James Cooper, a volunteer recruiter for the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals.

Cooper said the federal government should be doing more to address the mental-health needs of Katrina victims.

"Hurricane Katrina is teaching us much about the long-term psychological impact of disasters," said Rosalynn Carter, wife of former president Jimmy Carter. "We brought people together at the Carter Center to ensure that mental-health needs are a priority in responding to future disasters."