Black emergency department visits for schizophrenia/psychosis following the police killing of George Floyd: An empirical test of “protest psychosis”

In the United States, there exists a large disparity in the diagnosis of schizophrenia between Black and White individuals. Some of the symptoms associated with schizophrenia, such as agitation, delusions, and non-compliance, were previously linked to a now-discontinued condition known as “Protest P...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Parvati Singh, Geoffrey Carney-Knisely, Kamesha S. Spates, Marquianna Griffin, Amy Fairchild, Tim A. Bruckner
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2024-12-01
Series:SSM - Mental Health
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666560324000471
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850061660274819072
author Parvati Singh
Geoffrey Carney-Knisely
Kamesha S. Spates
Marquianna Griffin
Amy Fairchild
Tim A. Bruckner
author_facet Parvati Singh
Geoffrey Carney-Knisely
Kamesha S. Spates
Marquianna Griffin
Amy Fairchild
Tim A. Bruckner
author_sort Parvati Singh
collection DOAJ
description In the United States, there exists a large disparity in the diagnosis of schizophrenia between Black and White individuals. Some of the symptoms associated with schizophrenia, such as agitation, delusions, and non-compliance, were previously linked to a now-discontinued condition known as “Protest Psychosis.” This proposed subtype of schizophrenia diagnosis emerged during the 1950s and 1960s in response to racial tensions during the Civil Rights movement and preceded an increase in schizophrenia diagnosis among Black populations, potentially leading to racial disparities in this psychiatric condition that continue to permeate the modern context.In May 2020, the police killing of George Floyd sparked widespread protests through the Black Lives Matter Movement. Given the historical precedence of “protest psychosis” in response to the Civil Rights Movement, we examined disparities in Emergency Department (ED) visits diagnosed as schizophrenia/psychosis immediately following the police killing of George Floyd in May 2020. We used monthly data on ED visits from January 2016 to December 2020 across 5 University of California health systems. We used ARIMA (Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average) time-series analysis to derive the residual values of ED visits diagnosed as schizophrenia/psychosis among Black persons and examined whether these residuals increased selectively among Black persons in June 2020. Results from time-series analyses indicate 34 additional ED visits above expected levels diagnosed as schizophrenia/psychosis among Black persons in June 2020 (p < 0.05), amounting to a 25% increase in these visits among Black persons. These results indicate a perpetuation of historical trends and cohere with expectations from the legacy of “Protest Psychosis”.
format Article
id doaj-art-2f70e0b8dbe044199d029a9f00c5067e
institution DOAJ
issn 2666-5603
language English
publishDate 2024-12-01
publisher Elsevier
record_format Article
series SSM - Mental Health
spelling doaj-art-2f70e0b8dbe044199d029a9f00c5067e2025-08-20T02:50:09ZengElsevierSSM - Mental Health2666-56032024-12-01610034210.1016/j.ssmmh.2024.100342Black emergency department visits for schizophrenia/psychosis following the police killing of George Floyd: An empirical test of “protest psychosis”Parvati Singh0Geoffrey Carney-Knisely1Kamesha S. Spates2Marquianna Griffin3Amy Fairchild4Tim A. Bruckner5Division of Epidemiology, College of Public Health, The Ohio State University, USA; Corresponding author.Division of Epidemiology, College of Public Health, The Ohio State University, USAAfricana Studies, University of Pittsburgh, USADepartment of Sociology, The Ohio State University, USACenter for Policy Research, Maxwell School of Citizenship &amp; Public Affairs, Syracuse University, USADepartment of Health, Society, and Behavior, Center for Population, Inequality, and Policy, University of California, Irvine, USAIn the United States, there exists a large disparity in the diagnosis of schizophrenia between Black and White individuals. Some of the symptoms associated with schizophrenia, such as agitation, delusions, and non-compliance, were previously linked to a now-discontinued condition known as “Protest Psychosis.” This proposed subtype of schizophrenia diagnosis emerged during the 1950s and 1960s in response to racial tensions during the Civil Rights movement and preceded an increase in schizophrenia diagnosis among Black populations, potentially leading to racial disparities in this psychiatric condition that continue to permeate the modern context.In May 2020, the police killing of George Floyd sparked widespread protests through the Black Lives Matter Movement. Given the historical precedence of “protest psychosis” in response to the Civil Rights Movement, we examined disparities in Emergency Department (ED) visits diagnosed as schizophrenia/psychosis immediately following the police killing of George Floyd in May 2020. We used monthly data on ED visits from January 2016 to December 2020 across 5 University of California health systems. We used ARIMA (Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average) time-series analysis to derive the residual values of ED visits diagnosed as schizophrenia/psychosis among Black persons and examined whether these residuals increased selectively among Black persons in June 2020. Results from time-series analyses indicate 34 additional ED visits above expected levels diagnosed as schizophrenia/psychosis among Black persons in June 2020 (p < 0.05), amounting to a 25% increase in these visits among Black persons. These results indicate a perpetuation of historical trends and cohere with expectations from the legacy of “Protest Psychosis”.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666560324000471George floydProtestsSchizophreniaPsychosisBlack mental healthPsychiatry
spellingShingle Parvati Singh
Geoffrey Carney-Knisely
Kamesha S. Spates
Marquianna Griffin
Amy Fairchild
Tim A. Bruckner
Black emergency department visits for schizophrenia/psychosis following the police killing of George Floyd: An empirical test of “protest psychosis”
SSM - Mental Health
George floyd
Protests
Schizophrenia
Psychosis
Black mental health
Psychiatry
title Black emergency department visits for schizophrenia/psychosis following the police killing of George Floyd: An empirical test of “protest psychosis”
title_full Black emergency department visits for schizophrenia/psychosis following the police killing of George Floyd: An empirical test of “protest psychosis”
title_fullStr Black emergency department visits for schizophrenia/psychosis following the police killing of George Floyd: An empirical test of “protest psychosis”
title_full_unstemmed Black emergency department visits for schizophrenia/psychosis following the police killing of George Floyd: An empirical test of “protest psychosis”
title_short Black emergency department visits for schizophrenia/psychosis following the police killing of George Floyd: An empirical test of “protest psychosis”
title_sort black emergency department visits for schizophrenia psychosis following the police killing of george floyd an empirical test of protest psychosis
topic George floyd
Protests
Schizophrenia
Psychosis
Black mental health
Psychiatry
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666560324000471
work_keys_str_mv AT parvatisingh blackemergencydepartmentvisitsforschizophreniapsychosisfollowingthepolicekillingofgeorgefloydanempiricaltestofprotestpsychosis
AT geoffreycarneyknisely blackemergencydepartmentvisitsforschizophreniapsychosisfollowingthepolicekillingofgeorgefloydanempiricaltestofprotestpsychosis
AT kameshasspates blackemergencydepartmentvisitsforschizophreniapsychosisfollowingthepolicekillingofgeorgefloydanempiricaltestofprotestpsychosis
AT marquiannagriffin blackemergencydepartmentvisitsforschizophreniapsychosisfollowingthepolicekillingofgeorgefloydanempiricaltestofprotestpsychosis
AT amyfairchild blackemergencydepartmentvisitsforschizophreniapsychosisfollowingthepolicekillingofgeorgefloydanempiricaltestofprotestpsychosis
AT timabruckner blackemergencydepartmentvisitsforschizophreniapsychosisfollowingthepolicekillingofgeorgefloydanempiricaltestofprotestpsychosis