This is branch of health that we would prefer to ignore. Strong people pull themselves up by their bootstraps. Weak people need to talk to therapists and take pills. If it isn't bleeding or falling off, we can ignore it and it will go away. I could start a debate right here in this Letters section--name the mental illness/condition of the week (ADHD, schitzophrenia, psychosis, post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression, anxiety, whatever) and I'll bet a beer there will be at least three letters saying these conditions don't exist, that they're only invented by big pharma to sell drugs. Just watch.

In this kind of national climate about mental health care, is it any wonder that children who survived Katrina in one of the poorest regions of the country are getting little or no mental health care?

Even Uncle Sam, via the VA, would like to pretend that these conditions don't exist. Those vets coming back from Iraq to murder their spouses, rob stores, beat their children, or sit in the dark and jump at every noise must have had these conditions before, they certainly weren't caused by anything that happened in Iraq, and no we won't pay for them.

Remember what America's favorite bitchy grandmother (B. Bush) said last year at the Astrodome:

"And so many of the people in the arena here, you

know, were underprivileged anyway, so this--this (she

chuckles slightly) is working very well for them."

I think it's good to roll out this quote every so often. This is the mentality of people in power who just don't get it.

This is an excellent article. If all of salon were like this, I'd subscribe.

My son is a "Katrina kid". He's spent most of the year trying (as we all have) to figure out how to waterproof our entire lives. He's been depressed, suicidal, angry, detached... all at age ten. But you know what? I think that this is the norm, not the exception, no matter what age the New Orleanian is. I know most of y'all don't understand, because most of y'all haven't seen what it was and is like. But that's OK. We don't expect you to understand. We may not have the mental health care we need, but we have the common experience, and that, more than anything, helps us pull ourselves up by the bootstraps. There's not much sense in whining when you're in the same boat with a million or so people. And as much as we appreciate your concern, I don't see what difference crying for Katrina's kids is going to do. Crying doesn't accomplish much, and besides, it's simply not your problem when you get down to it (unless you've made it your problem, in which case, welcome to the new hell). I mean, honestly, folks. Do any of you really WANT to know that we all still have nightmares about the smell of our dead and rotting neighbors and the alligators that nibble and tear (they only death roll when the prey fights)? Nah. You want to hear about how things are getting better, even if they aren't. I don't know... I really do appreciate that some people still care, but it's going to take more than you guys just sitting at your PC's, passively caring if any meaningful change is to occur. Spare us the tears and do something meaningful.

A main source for “Cry for Katrina’s Kids” (Aug. 22) by Tracey Clark-Flory was Paula Madrid, PsyD. In addition to her role as Director of the Resiliency Program at the National Center for Disaster Preparedness (NCDP), Dr. Madrid is also Director, Mental Health Services, for Operation Assist, a collaboration between The Children’s Health Fund and the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health.

Days after Hurricane Katrina, The Children’s Health Fund (CHF) responded to the urgent mental health, clinical care and public health needs of the children and families of the Hurricane devastated region by establishing Operation Assist.

Since then CHF has established three permanent programs - increasing CHF's National Network to 21 projects across the country - in Biloxi/Gulfport, MS; New Orleans, LA and Baton Rouge, LA, and will continue to provide long-term access to sustainable health care.

For more information, please visit our website: www.childrenshealthfund.org.

-The Children’s Health Fund