The objective of this study was to determine how psychosocial approaches to people with schizophrenia, in addition to treatment with psychotropic drugs, affect the course of the illness and family interactions. The project included people who were diagnosed with schizophrenia and hospitalized at least once. Twenty-three people completed the study. Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS), WHO Quality of Life (WHOQOL-BREF-TR), Family Assessment Device (FAD), Specific Level of Functioning Scale (SLFS) and Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) were applied both at the beginning and at the end of the study. Two study teams visited the participants six times in their homes once per two weeks. At the end of the third month, improvements in social interactions and in family relationships were observed. According to the average score at baseline, BPRS average score was found to be significantly lower (p < 0.02); WHOQOL-BREF, SLFS and MSPSS average scores were found to be significantly higher (respectively p < 0.02, p < 0.0001, p < 0.05). The results of this study show that psychosocial approaches are beneficial especially in social skills and family relationships.
Objective: Studies performed to solve the genetic basis of schizophrenia have focused on the role of serotonin in the etiology of schizophrenia and the function of serotonin transporter gene. This study aimed to investigate whether there was a relationship between schizophrenia and polymorphism of the Variable Number of Tandem Repeats (VTNR) and 5-HTT Gene-Linked Polymorphic Region (5-HTTLPR) variants in the transcriptional control region of the serotonin transporter gene or not. Method: A total of 55 schizophrenia patients who were diagnosed according to the diagnostic criteria of DSM-IV-TR and 32 healthy volunteers (the control group) were included in the study. DNAs were extracted from the bloods collected from the patient and control groups with the salting-out method. Alleles of the serotonin transporter gene polymorphism were determined with the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method. Results: Based on the serotonin transporter gene intron 2 VNTR polymorphism, the distribution of 12/12, 12/10, 10/10, and 12/9 genotypes was 47.3%, 47.3%, 3.6%, and 1.8% in the patients and 46.9%, 46.9% and 6.3% respectively in the control group. There was no 12/9 genotype in the control group. The distribution of L/L, L/S and S/S genotypes according to the 5-HTTLPR polymorphism was 30.9%, 41.8% and 27.3% in the patients and 28.1%, 50.0% and 21.9% respectively in the control group.
Conclusion:Although the allele and genotype distributions of the serotonin transporter gene polymorphism relatively differed between the patient and control groups this difference was not statistically significant.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.