Major interpersonal separations and losses: Factors in psychiatric hospitalization and depression for black and white women

The detrimental effect of separations and losses upon physical and mental health has been well established, and low-income black women are particularly at risk for these types of events. Manifestations of the impact of these events include the utilization of health care services, notably mental health facilities, in response to impairments associated with loss. This project investigated the significance of separations and losses, as factors in psychiatric hospitalization and in depression, for low-income black (n = 67) and white (n = 32) women, in an urban psychiatric population.;The study involved a review of case records to obtain information about histories of loss events, diagnoses, experiences of violence, and patterns of hospitalization. Four research questions were addressed: (1) the possibility of racial differences in the occurrences of loss events prior to psychiatric hospitalization and across the life span; (2) associations among separations and losses, experiences of violence, and the diagnosis of depressive disorders; (3) possible racial differences in the diagnosis of depressive disorders; and (4) the significance of histories of violence in the diagnosis of depressive disorders.;Black women were found to have experienced more loss events in the year prior to admission than white women, reflecting the prevalence of major losses in low-income urban black populations. Additionally, the study revealed a positive association between loss events and depression in the sample as a whole, an outcome congruent with well-established findings in the literature. However, all hypotheses addressing the influence of histories of violence were unsupported. Resiliency was considered as a possible protective factor against depression for black women with histories of loss events. Regarding histories of violence, issues which may have manifested in underreporting were explored. The role of separations and losses in depression and hospitalization, as well as issues in the assessment of histories of violence, requires further exploration.