The 1996 Summer Olympic Games will be held in Atlanta resulting in forced relocations of people from six contiguous neighborhoods and the Atlanta University Center in order that construction projects may be completed for the games. All of the neighborhoods have already suffered the trauma of forced relocations. They are poor, African American neighborhoods with large percentages of single mothers and the elderly. The costs of the mental distress created by forced relocation are high to both the individual and society. Fried (1963) found that the grief over a lost home was sever. Steinglass & Gerrity (1990) found that many of Fried's relocated subjects would meet the DSM-III criteria for Major Depressive Disorder and Adjustment Disorder. The personal consequences of forced relocation are extensive grief, adjustment disorders, depression, physical illness, substance and alcohol abuse, disrupted family life, and disrupted support networks. The social consequences are higher rates of unemployment and crime, the loss of productive citizens to alcohol and drug abuse and mental and physical illnesses, and higher taxes for all. Four groups of people are to be involved in the proposed research: those relocated by the Olympic Games, those relocated by other urban renewal programs, those who remain in the community throughout the urban renewal programs, and those who move into the community after urban renewal.
The specific aims of this study are to determine the mental health problems resulting from forced relocations, to determine changes in family structures, to determine the presence, structure and function of social networks, to determine the extent that people identify with their community, and to develop a demographic and land use profile of the communities over fifty years (1950-2000). The methods will include the use of the Post Traumatic Stress disorder (PTSD) scale, the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression scale, the Quality of Life Index, Arizona Social Support Interview schedule, case studies, and analysis of existing data from archives, census data, and land use maps.
