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Mental health is seen as an important aspect in the community response to crisis and disaster. Research offers limited guidance to what interventions are likely to be effective in preventing postdisaster mental health problems. This article reviews recommended elements of mental health responses to community disasters. Different factors influencing response are illustrated by using 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina as examples. Clinical suggestions for community planning and actions of individual psychologists conclude the article. Keywords: crisis intervention; psychological first aid; community disaster planning

This article attempts to compare Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory changes in psychiatric patients over a 15-20 years. However, methodological difficulties, primarily the inclusion of both psychiatric inpatients and outpatients and a relatively small sample size of only 44 females and 56 males in each group. Male psychiatric inpatients of the 1950s admitted to significantly more intrapsychic and interpersonal distress, guilt, ruminativeness, intropunitiveness, loneliness, alienation, sexual identity concerns, inability to cope with daily stress, and, more unusual, eccentric and bizarre qualities in their thinking than male psychiatric inpatients of the 1970s.