Mental Illness最新文献

{"title":"Social cognition in schizophrenia.","authors":"Nare Torosyan, Robert G Bota","doi":"10.4081/mi.2017.7228","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4081/mi.2017.7228","url":null,"abstract":"Social cognition describes the mental processes by which individuals perceive, process, and utilize information in social interactions.1 It is a topic that has attracted significant interest, as it can account for differences in daily functioning and quality of life.2 Numerous studies investigating this construct, especially as it relates to individuals with schizophrenia, have emerged in the last decade. Social cognition encompasses various domains that include emotion perception, theory of mind, social knowledge, and attributional style.3 Emotion perception describes ability to recognize and identify emotions. Theory of mind refers to one’s ability to comprehend mental states and intentions. Social knowledge involves awareness of the roles, rules, and goals underlying social interactions. Attributional style is an individual’s manner of interpreting the cause of events, specifically, tendency to attribute behaviors or events to personal or external factors. Impairments in these domains have been observed in patients with schizophrenia, and may contribute to one of the defining features of this disorder, social dysfunction.4 Studies have demonstrated consistent relationships between deficits in performance on social cognitive measures and poor functional outcomes, particularly social problem solving, social behavior, and functioning in the community.5 Impaired social functioning, in turn, is a poor prognostic factor and is predictive of relapse.6 Research also suggests that race is a significant moderator of emotion identification and functional outcomes, with weaker associations identified in samples of primarily Caucasians.7 Charernboon et al.8 investigated social cognition in an Asian population with clinically stable schizophrenia. The results demonstrated significant deficits in performance on social cognitive tests and a significant correlation between emotion perception and negative symptoms of the disorder. Their work suggests that deficits in social cognition are a defining feature of schizophrenia, regardless of race or culture. Additional research across different patient populations will be important for further characterizing how race impacts the relationship between social cognition and social functioning. The aforementioned studies have potentially important implications in the clinical setting, as addressing these deficits may improve social outcomes. Recent studies have explored the effect of broad-based and targeted social cognitive interventions on improving social cognitive skills.9 Broad based interventions involve a combination of training in social cognition, social skills, and neurocognition, while targeted interventions focus solely on training in specific social cognitive domains. These interventions have been associated with positive outcomes in patients with schizophrenia, particularly in emotion processing and theory of mind.8 Additional studies employing a well-validated battery of tasks will be important for better","PeriodicalId":44029,"journal":{"name":"Mental Illness","volume":"9 2","pages":"7228"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2017-10-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.4081/mi.2017.7228","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"35613951","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Realizing the Promises of Telepsychiatry in Special Populations.","authors":"Candace B Borders","doi":"10.4081/mi.2017.7135","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4081/mi.2017.7135","url":null,"abstract":"Telepsychiatry holds great potential as a treatment modality for patients who suffer from mental health issues, but lack access to traditional in-person clinic visits. Reasons for poor access may include disabling medical illness, residence in remote areas, lack of transportation, and cultural barriers like language proficiency or stigmatization of psychiatric disorders.1-3 As such, there are many specific populations that stand to benefit from telepsychiatric services – namely, the elderly, rural residents, recent immigrants, and deployed members of the military.3-5 An important consideration when implementing telepsychiatric care is the likely expectations and reactions of the patients being treated. For example, it is possible that patients experience a stronger therapeutic alliance with face-to-face sessions. They may also have different expectations depending on whether they have met with their psychiatrist in person before, or if all meetings including the initial evaluation have occurred remotely. Moreover, those with limited experience using videoconferencing technology (such as the elderly or culturally isolated patients) might prefer face-to-face sessions, and they could even experience telepsychiatry as a stressor. Campbell et al. address this last concern in their report, demonstrating that geographically and culturally isolated patients in Ontario, Canada, actually respond very positively to telepsychiatry. Despite the fact that some of the patients surveyed had no Internet access or computers, over 90% of patients were comfortable with their telepsychiatric care, and 84.5% found it as beneficial as a direct physical presence. Moreover, only one patient out of 84 surveyed found the telepsychiatry experience to be stressful, and no patients experienced adverse outcomes as a result of the intervention. A range of diagnoses was represented in the study’s sample, increasing its applicability to other populations (though survey responses were not linked with diagnosis, in order to preserve anonymity). Virtually all of the patients stated on the survey that they would want to use the telepsychiatric service again in the future.3 This bodes well for other populations that may benefit from telepsychiatry. Similarly to the isolated patients in the report, elderly patients are also less likely to have Internet access and computer proficiency. The suggestion that a lack of experience with technology does not reduce the acceptability of telepsychiatric intervention is encouraging. Lending further support to this idea is a recent study by Vahia et al., which demonstrated the reliability and acceptability of telepsychiatric evaluation of older Spanish-speaking Latino adults with mild cognitive impairment in the rural county of Imperial in California.4 This result is especially striking given the many potential barriers to effective care – culture, age, language, geography, and cognition – in the study’s participants. A limitation of Campbell’s stu","PeriodicalId":44029,"journal":{"name":"Mental Illness","volume":"9 1","pages":"7135"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2017-07-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.4081/mi.2017.7135","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"35203183","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Beliefs About the Cause of Schizophrenia Among Caregivers in Midwestern Nigeria.","authors":"Osayi Igberase,&nbsp;Esther Okogbenin","doi":"10.4081/mi.2017.6983","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4081/mi.2017.6983","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Schizophrenia is a devastating illness with a chronic and relapsing course. While Western countries may endorse, biological and psychosocial causes more commonly than supernatural causes, non-western cultures like Nigeria in contrast, tend to endorse supernatural causes. Belief in supernatural causes has been reported to have consequences for treatment seeking behavior. This study aimed to examine the causes of schizophrenia reported by family members of outpatients with schizophrenia in a neuropsychiatric hospital in Midwestern Nigeria. In this study, we recruited a convenient sample of 200 consecutive caregivers of patients visiting the outpatient department of the Psychiatric Hospital, Benin City, Nigeria. These primary caregivers were unpaid relatives who provided support to patients. The patients were service users who fulfilled the diagnostic criteria of the International Classification of Disease [ICD-10; World Health Organization 1993] for schizophrenia and had been on treatment for at least two years. Majority (72.0%) of caregivers endorsed supernatural causes as most important in the etiology of schizophrenia, while 28.0% endorsed natural causes. Every participant without formal education endorsed supernatural attribution. In our study, it was evident that participants embraced multiple causal attributions for schizophrenia.</p>","PeriodicalId":44029,"journal":{"name":"Mental Illness","volume":"9 1","pages":"6983"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2017-07-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.4081/mi.2017.6983","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"35203181","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Electroconvulsive Therapy Hasn't Negative Effects on Short-Term Memory Function, as Assessed Using a Bedside Hand-Held Device.","authors":"Helge H O Müller,&nbsp;Mareen Reike,&nbsp;Simon Grosse-Holz,&nbsp;Mareike Röther,&nbsp;Caroline Lücke,&nbsp;Alexandra Philipsen,&nbsp;Johannes Kornhuber,&nbsp;Teja W Grömer","doi":"10.4081/mi.2017.7093","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4081/mi.2017.7093","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is effective in the treatment of treatment-resistant major depression. The fear of cognitive impairment after ECT often deters patients from choosing this treatment option. There is little reliable information regarding the effects of ECT on overall cognitive performance, while short-term memory deficits are well known but not easy to measure within clinical routines. In this pilot study, we examined ECT recipients' pre- and post-treatment performances on a digital ascending number tapping test. We found that cognitive performance measures exhibited good reproducibility in individual patients and that ECT did not significantly alter cognitive performance up to 2 hours after this therapy was applied. Our results can help patients and physicians make decisions regarding the administration of ECT. Digital measurements are recommended, especially when screening for the most common side effects on cognitive performance and short-term memory.</p>","PeriodicalId":44029,"journal":{"name":"Mental Illness","volume":"9 1","pages":"7093"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2017-06-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.4081/mi.2017.7093","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"35203182","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A Case of Attempted Bilateral Self-Enucleation in a Patient with Bipolar Disorder.","authors":"Hannah Muniz Castro,&nbsp;John Alvarez,&nbsp;Robert G Bota,&nbsp;Marc Yonkers,&nbsp;Jeremiah Tao","doi":"10.4081/mi.2017.7141","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4081/mi.2017.7141","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Attempted and completed self-enucleation, or removal of one's own eyes, is a rare but devastating form of self-mutilation behavior. It is often associated with psychiatric disorders, particularly schizophrenia, substance induced psychosis, and bipolar disorder. We report a case of a patient with a history of bipolar disorder who gouged his eyes bilaterally as an attempt to self-enucleate himself. On presentation, the patient was manic with both psychotic features of hyperreligous delusions and command auditory hallucinations of God telling him to take his eyes out. On presentation, the patient had no light perception vision in both eyes and his exam displayed severe proptosis, extensive conjunctival lacerations, and visibly avulsed extraocular muscles on the right side. An emergency computed tomography scan of the orbits revealed small and irregular globes, air within the orbits, and intraocular hemorrhage. He was taken to the operating room for surgical repair of his injuries. Attempted and completed self-enucleation is most commonly associated with schizophrenia and substance induced psychosis, but can also present in patients with bipolar disorder. Other less commonly associated disorders include obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression, mental retardation, neurosyphilis, Lesch-Nyhan syndrome, and structural brain lesions.</p>","PeriodicalId":44029,"journal":{"name":"Mental Illness","volume":"9 1","pages":"7141"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2017-06-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.4081/mi.2017.7141","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"35203184","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Reliability, Validity and Psychometric Properties of the Greek Translation of the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Scale.","authors":"Konstantinos Kontoangelos,&nbsp;Sofia Tsiori,&nbsp;Garyfalia Poulakou,&nbsp;Konstantinos Protopapas,&nbsp;Ioannis Katsarolis,&nbsp;Vissaria Sakka,&nbsp;Dimitra Kavatha,&nbsp;Antonios Papadopoulos,&nbsp;Anastasia Antoniadou,&nbsp;Charalambos C Papageorgiou","doi":"10.4081/mi.2017.6832","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4081/mi.2017.6832","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The Greek version of the Davidson Trauma Scale (DTS) was developed to respond to the need of Greek-speaking individuals. The translated questionnaire was administered to 128 HIV outpatients (aged 37.1±9.1) and 166 control patients (aged 32.4±13.4). In addition to the DTS Greek scale, subjects were assessed with two other scales useful for assessing validity. For each factor analyses two components were extracted, based on Cattell's scree test. The two components solution accounted for 55.34% of the total variation in case of frequency variables and 61.45% in case of severity variables. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient and Guttman split-half coefficient of the DTS scale were 0.93 and 0.88 respectively. The test-retest reliability of the Greek version of DTS scale proved to be satisfactory. Individual items had good intra-class correlation coefficients higher than 0.5, which means that all questions have high levels of external validity. The psychometric strength of interview for posttraumatic stress disorder-Greek version it's reliable for its future use, particularly for screening subjects with possible diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder.</p>","PeriodicalId":44029,"journal":{"name":"Mental Illness","volume":"9 1","pages":"6832"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2017-04-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.4081/mi.2017.6832","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"34974478","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Quality of Life in Persons with Schizophrenia.","authors":"Zack Cernovsky","doi":"10.4081/mi.2017.7052","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4081/mi.2017.7052","url":null,"abstract":"De-institualization had been greatly facilitated by novel antipsychotics. Our goal is now to foster an independent life style of the discharged schizophrenic patients. Their subjective views and satisfaction can be statistically assessed via Kilian’s empowerment questionnaire, Bergold’s inventory, or the measures of quality of life. Their medication compliance can hopefully be also enhanced by further pharmacological studies, including also those of herbal preparations such as cannabidiol or ginseng. Our goal is to improve the quality of life of persons diagnosed with psychiatric illness. De-institutionalization movement in psychiatry in 1960s was originally driven by the hope to free the patients from highly contained institutionalized environments. At that time, certain charismatic psychiatrists such as Franco Basaglia insisted that the symptoms such as the word salad, flat affect, the vacant stares, the repetitive gestures and movements would, in fact, abate when the patient benefits from the freedom of living outside, within the community.1 The critics of the de-institionalization pointed out that the patients with schizophrenia and those with bipolar illness were being dumped into the neighborhoods, many of them becoming homeless, or victims of assaults or of suicides, or found themselves in jails.2 Their symptoms had not disappeared. Families of former inpatients felt overwhelmed by having to assume an intensive homecare without outside help, except when their financial situation enabled them to pay for inpatient treatments in private psychiatric hospitals. The antipsychiatric movement often criticized pharmacology as essentially controlling and poisonous, however, it has been also noted in several studies that symptoms such as dyskinesia and parkinsonism occur even in patients never exposed to antipsychotic medication.3 Over more recent decades, the new generation antipsychotics and the network of halfway houses made the process of re-integration into the community less aversive both for the patients and for their families. In particular, with clozapine, the back wards with treatment resistant patients or even entire hospitals were emptied by a few particularly skilled pharmacotherapists, e.g., Charles Byrne in Ireland or Kola Oyewumi in Ontario, in a manner that greatly reduced the severity of symptoms and enhanced the patients’ quality of life. Kilian4 emphasized that the goal of modern psychiatry is to foster an independent lifestyle and autonomous dealing with the illness, as exemplified by the concept of empowerment. Kilian’s team developed a 33-item questionnaire to measure this concept in psychiatric outpatients. The questionnaire covers important aspects of the patient’s life, including financial situation, living arrangements, work activity, social life, participation in therapy, insight, acceptance of illness, medication management, free time activities, political activism, sense of hope, self-efficacy, and family relationships. ","PeriodicalId":44029,"journal":{"name":"Mental Illness","volume":"9 1","pages":"7052"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2017-03-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.4081/mi.2017.7052","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"34935225","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Stop Caretaking the Borderline or Narcissist: How to End the Drama and Get on with Life","authors":"Peter G. Bota, Ela Miropolskiy, Vy Nguyen","doi":"10.4081/MI.2017.6985","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4081/MI.2017.6985","url":null,"abstract":"Those who suffer from Narcissistic Personality Disorder or from Borderline Personality Disorder (Henceforth to be referred to as NPD and BPD individually and as BP/NP as a group) tend to employ an array of both normal and abnormal defense mechanisms, which are automatic mental responses designed to protect the ego from stress, anxiety or conflict. However, these defense mechanisms are extremely harmful to those who live with the BP/NP, and occasionally, those mechanisms will draw a well-meaning person into a degrading and crazy-making relationship, henceforth referred to as Caretaking. Stop Caretaking the Borderline or Narcissist: How to End the Drama and Get on with Life by Margalis Fjelstad is selfhelp book for those who are trapped in a dysfunctional and self-destructive relationship with loved ones who have borderline or narcissistic personality disorders. In first section of the book, titled Understanding the Caretaker Role, Fjelstad provides the reader with the tools to identify whether he or she is or acts like a Caretaker (with a recommended Caretaker Test in the appendix), as compared to merely an altruist, and whether a loved one is a BP/NP, along with an overview of borderline and narcissistic personality disorders using a biopsychosocial and casework based approach from the author’s own experiences as a psychotherapist who specializes in the relationships of BP/NPs. She helps the layperson understand these disorders by using accessible terms, specific examples, and DSM IV criteria. Fjelstad then explains the Caretaker term, or someone who gives up their identity to meet the emotional needs of a borderline or narcissistic loved one, and points out some typical feelings of a Caretaker and the different types of Caretakers. Fjelstad then helps the reader understand how wellmeaning individuals can become Caretakers and continue to stay in this role out of fear, obligation, and guilt. By focusing on the emotional, cognitive, behavioral, and relationship distortions of Caretakers within their relationship to the BP/NP, she shows readers how caretaking inevitably leads to an endless cycle of relationship chaos, selfneglect, and despair. She ends with saying that the BP/NP cannot be changed and so any improvement must come from the Caretaker’s side, starting with letting go of the hope that Caretaking will work. In the middle section of the book, titled Letting go of Caretaking, Fjelstad provides readers with guidance on how to break free of the caretaker role even if they choose to continue their relationship with the BP/NP. It describes the process of healing from being a caretaker using Elizabeth KublerRoss’s stages of grief: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance, also including three more specifically for Caretakers: Setting Boundaries, Letting Go, and Rebuilding; all of this is director toward moving a Caretaker to Self-Care. Readers learn to stop trying to change their loved ones with BPD or NPD and instead focus on skil","PeriodicalId":44029,"journal":{"name":"Mental Illness","volume":"85 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2017-03-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"83881130","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Beyond Schizophrenia: Living and Working with a Serious Mental Illness","authors":"Peter G. Bota, S. Fraser, R. Groysman","doi":"10.4081/MI.2017.6782","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4081/MI.2017.6782","url":null,"abstract":"Schizophrenia happens to some of us; however, it affects all of us... Beyond Schizophrenia by Marjorie L Baldwin is an excruciatingly honest revelation about personal victories and defeats in overcoming our society’s failures to rehabilitate a patient with schizophrenia. Mrs. Baldwin’s incredible courage in exposing her son’s illness offers a diverse understanding of the misery that schizophrenia brings into the lives of patients and their families and friends. A bold protest against discrimination of people affected by this most stigmatized condition, her book may appeal to anyone who aspires to help those craving hope and guidance on the complicated path to sanity. The book itself is designed to serve many purposes: to reduce the strong stigma against the mentally ill, to promote activism for reform in the broken mental health system, and to provide hope for the families. While the previous few decades have held many incredible advancements in the treatment of schizophrenia, efforts to rehabilitate patients back into labor market have not caught up to the promise of new treatments. Marjorie L. Baldwin, a well-respected labor economist who specializes in labor market discrimination against the disabled, starts her book chronicling the history of the mental health system as we know it today, from the age of permanent institutionalization to the creation of effective antipsychotics. She unearths many discrepancies in the delivery of the mental health system, focusing especially on abject failure of community care and prevention, as exemplified by her son’s devastation. The author’s personal and professional experiences offer the reader priceless practical solutions in navigating the contradictory and labyrinthine system. Mrs. Baldwin suggests a valuable tool for rehabilitation in schizophrenia: employment. It permits a degree of confidence and independence, relieves some of the burdens upon families, and provides a new identity as normal people with normal jobs in their eyes and the eyes of society. The successful reintegration of the author’s son into society gives hope to those diagnosed with schizophrenia and their long-suffering caretakers.","PeriodicalId":44029,"journal":{"name":"Mental Illness","volume":"53 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2017-03-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"86763480","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Medication Adherence Among Nigerians with Schizophrenia: Correlation Between Clinico-Demographic Factors and Quality of Life.","authors":"Oluseun P Ogunnubi,&nbsp;Andrew T Olagunju,&nbsp;Olatunji F Aina,&nbsp;Njideka U Okubadejo","doi":"10.4081/mi.2017.6889","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4081/mi.2017.6889","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Medication adherence contributes significantly to symptom remission, recovery and wellbeing in mental illnesses. We evaluated how medication adherence correlates with clinico-demographic factors and quality of life (QoL) in a sample of Nigerians with schizophrenia. This descriptive cross-sectional study involved 160 randomly selected participants with confirmed diagnosis of schizophrenia based on <i>MINI International Neuropsychiatric Interview</i>. Data on socio-demographic and clinical characteristics of participants were collected with a questionnaire. Medication adherence was assessed with <i>Morisky Medication Adherence Questionnaire</i>, and participants completed the <i>World Health Organization Quality of Life Scale-BREF</i>. The mean age of participants was 38.54 (±11.30) years, and all the participants were on antipsychotics, but only 45% were adherent to their medication. Out of all the participants, 45 (28.2%) considered their overall QoL to be good, 97 (60.6%) considered theirs to be fair, while 18 (11.2%) reported poor QoL. Medication non-adherence correlated negatively with good QoL across multiple dimensions including overall QoL (<i>r</i>=-0.175), health satisfaction (r=-0.161), physical (r=-0.186) and psychological domain (r=-0.175). Again, participant's age (r=-0.190) and age of onset of illness (r=-0.172) correlated negatively with medication non-adherence, and a trend towards relapse delay with medication adherence was also observed (r=-0.155). The effect size of these correlations were however small. Our findings suggest a link between medication adherence and QoL in schizophrenia, such that strategy that addresses medication non-adherence and its determinants may have potential benefits on wellbeing. Further hypotheses-driven studies are desirable.</p>","PeriodicalId":44029,"journal":{"name":"Mental Illness","volume":"9 1","pages":"6889"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2017-03-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.4081/mi.2017.6889","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"34974479","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}