Research finding · February 2026
Psychiatric hospitalization impacts safety and emotional well-being for suicidal adolescents
When an adolescent experiences a suicide-related crisis, psychiatric hospitalization is often a necessary and life-preserving intervention. In moments of acute risk, inpatient care is designed to prioritize safety, stabilize symptoms, and create space for assessment and support. Clinicians working in these settings are frequently operating under urgent conditions and strict safety protocols meant to prevent immediate harm. At the same time, hospitalization is not just a clinical procedure. It is a powerful emotional and relational event. For adolescents, it may involve separation from caregivers, unfamiliar routines, constant monitoring, and a sudden loss of independence. For caregivers, it can bring fear, uncertainty, and the weight of making high-stakes decisions during moments of crisis. Despite this, relatively little research has explored how these experiences are lived by adolescents and families, or how safety-driven practices may carry emotional consequences alongside their protective intent.
To better understand these experiences, Dr. Marisa Marraccini conducted in-depth qualitative interviews with 19 adolescent–caregiver dyads following psychiatric hospitalization for suicidal thoughts or behaviors. Adolescents were between 13 and 18 years old, and interviews occurred within six months of discharge. Using thematic analysis, Dr. Marraccini examined experiences across emergency department admission, inpatient hospitalization, and the emotional impact of care on both youth and caregivers. Participants described a complex balance, which Dr. Marraccini characterizes as a helpfulness–harmfulness paradox. Many adolescents valued the structure, routine, and temporary relief provided by hospitalization, describing it as a space that reduced immediate pressures and, at times, fostered connection with peers and staff. At the same time, adolescents and caregivers also described distress associated with safety procedures that, while intended to protect, were experienced as frightening, confusing, or emotionally overwhelming (e.g., prolonged emergency department stays, constant observation, restricted communication, or involvement of law enforcement during transport). Importantly, adolescents and caregivers often shared similar emotional interpretations of the hospitalization, underscoring that these experiences reverberate across the family system. Taken together, the findings suggest that inpatient care can be both protective and taxing, highlighting opportunities to strengthen trauma-informed, developmentally sensitive, and family-inclusive practices that support safety while also attending to dignity, connection, and longer-term healing.
Citation: Salem, S., Marraccini, M. E., Grove, J. L., Goldston, D. B., Pittleman, C., Cruz, C. M., Tow, A. C., Vanderburg, J. L., & Knettel, B. A. (2025). Navigating Through the Darkness: An Exploratory Study Unraveling the Experience of Hospitalization of Adolescents and Their Caregivers Amid Suicidal Presentations. Research on child and adolescent psychopathology, 53(5), 801–815. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-025-01299-w
This finding comes from an AFSP-funded study — see the grant below ↓
