Perceived loss among people living with mental disorders: Validation of the personal loss from mental illness scale

Objective: The development of mental illness often leads to pervasive losses in different areas of people's lives. However, previous research has tended to focus on the loss experienced by families while the examination of the loss experienced by individuals who are themselves coping with mental illness has been neglected. The present study tested the factor structure of the Hungarian version of the Personal Loss from Mental Illness (PLMI) scale, and analyzed its associations with age, gender, previous hospitalizations, marital status, loneliness, grief, and quality of life. Methods: Mentally ill patients (N = 200) with different diagnoses were recruited from a mental health center in Hungary, and completed self-report questionnaires. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with covariates was conducted. Results: CFA analyses rejected the previous four-factor structure and suggested a single factor structure to be superior. Higher loss perception was predicted by higher loneliness, grief, and lower quality of life. Patients with mood disorders reported higher loss as compared to patients with other psychiatric diagnoses. Conclusions: The present study stresses the magnitude of loss and raises the need to examine further the role of loss in coping and recovery. Asking patients about their feelings in clinical practice is of high importance.