Post-storm mental health plan comes with a catch

The federal government has funneled more than $50 million to post-Katrina mental health programs in Louisiana, but the money comes with strings attached. For example, state officials said they're not allowed to spend it on doctors.

Instead, the money is earmarked for traditional social service work, what the field calls "crisis counseling," which can't go beyond five meetings and can't include anything physicians would label treatment.

The money flows freely, however, to newly minted bureaucratic positions, a telephone hot line, massive literature dumps, therapy sessions featuring muffins and coffee, and the recruitment of victims, according to public records and interviews with professionals involved in the project.

from the Times Picayune