Schizophrenia Psychopathology in a Kuwaiti Arab Sample

Abstract

Background: The heterogeneity of schizophrenia psychopathology has led to a search for symptom clusters that could be related to broad features of the disease. The objectives of the study were to: (1) highlight the pattern of symptoms among Kuwaiti subjects with schizophrenia, using the ICD-10 symptom checklist; (2) assess the factor structure of the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale 18 (BPRS-18) and BPRS-24, and (3) evaluate the relationship of the resulting factors with sociodemographic characteristics, age at onset of illness, family history of mental illness, objective indicators of quality of life, self-esteem, affect balance, family caregiver burden, patient’s perceptions of service satisfaction and needs for care. Method: Consecutive outpatients in stable condition were assessed with the BPRS and ICD-10 symptom checklist, as well as measures of quality of life, needs for care, service satisfaction and family caregiver burden. Results: There were 130 patients (66.1% men, mean age = 36.8 years, age at onset of illness = 24.2 years, duration of illness = 12.9 years). Of the ICD-10 symptoms, the commonest positive symptoms were hallucinations (58.5%) and delusions (72%). Catatonic symptoms were rare (2.9%). About a quarter of the subjects experienced 4 of the negative symptoms. In exploratory factor analysis, we broadly replicated the known syndromes for BPRS-24 (disorganization, positive, activation, manic, negative and depression) and BPRS-18 (negative, positive, activation and affect). In regression analyses, the variables independently associated with psychopathology were family income, negative affect, self-esteem, duration of illness, age, lack of money for enjoyment, met needs for care and caregiver tension. The negative syndrome had more significant associations with the variables investigated than the positive syndrome. Psychopathological scores were separable from indices of psychological well-being. Conclusion: In this first study of schizophrenia psychopathology from the Arab world, the clinical manifestations were similar to the data from the developed countries. The persistence of psychotic symptoms despite freely available antipsychotic treatment and the impact on caregiver burden call for attention to the perennial issue of treatment resistance and underscore the need for continued interaction with family members after the acute inpatient phase of treatment, in order to address the impact of symptoms.

Differences in Clinical Features of Methamphetamine Users with Persistent Psychosis and Patients with Schizophrenia

“…In another study [25], MA users reported high levels of psychiatric symptoms, including poor anger control and violent behaviors. Previous studies exploring positive symptoms in patients with schizophrenia suggested that persecutory delusions, delusional perceptions and auditory hallucinations were the most commonly observed symptoms [4,5]. The profiles of positive symptoms among MAP and schizophrenia in our study were generally compatible with previous reports.…”

“…The negative symptoms indicate the absence of certain functions that are present in healthy individuals, such as anhedonia, avolition, blunted affect (BA), and poverty of speech [3]. Most patients with schizophrenia exhibit a mixture of positive and negative symptoms, which vary in degree over time [4,5]. The severity of psychotic symptoms is associated with the social functioning of patients and the burden of caregivers [6].…”

Relationship of family caregiver burden with quality of care and psychopathology in a sample of Arab subjects with schizophrenia

“…Only the IEQ - EU will be described in detail here because it is the focus of this report. Details about the other questionnaires have been presented elsewhere [14,42]. …”

Quality of life, social support, and severity of psychiatric symptoms in Jordanian patients with schizophrenia

“…), pharmacotherapy, insight, depression, pain (Pinikahana et al . ), duration of untreated illness, and severity of psychopathology (Zahid & Ohaeri ).…”