Sudden losses and negative appraisal in people with severe mental illness

Research on the impact of sudden or unexpected losses in people with severe mental illness is scarce. The purpose of our study was to examine the relationship between subjective distress from sudden losses in people with severe mental illness and posttraumatic stress symptoms while controlling for gender, psychiatric symptoms, and negative appraisals. As part of routine care, treatment personnel collected data from 371 community mental health clients diagnosed with a severe mental illness. Hierarchical linear regression revealed that negative appraisals of the self and the world correlated significantly with posttraumatic stress symptoms, and distress from losses accounted for the greatest amount of variance in posttraumatic stress symptoms of the 6 traumas tested. When examined by diagnostic group, only those with schizophrenia spectrum disorder showed a significant association between distress from sudden losses and posttraumatic stress symptoms. Relative to other factors including symptoms of severe mental illness, distress from sudden losses in people with severe mental illness appears to be strongly associated with posttraumatic stress symptoms.