Wellness within illness: Happiness in schizophrenia

Abstract

Schizophrenia is typically a chronic disorder and among the most severe forms of serious mental illnesses in terms of adverse impact on quality of life. Yet, there have been suggestions that some people with schizophrenia can experience an overall sense of happiness in their lives. We investigated happiness among 72 outpatients with non-remitted chronic schizophrenia with a mean duration of illness of 24.4 years, and 64 healthy comparison subjects (HCs). Despite continued treatment with antipsychotic medications, the individuals with schizophrenia manifested a mild to moderate level of psychopathology. People with schizophrenia reported lower mean levels of happiness than HCs, but there was substantial heterogeneity within the schizophrenia group. Level of happiness in persons with schizophrenia was significantly correlated with higher mental health-related quality of life, and several positive psychosocial factors (lower perceived stress, and higher levels of resilience, optimism, and personal mastery). However, level of happiness was not related to sociodemographic characteristics, duration of illness, severity of positive or negative symptoms, physical function, medical comorbidity, or cognitive functioning. Except for an absence of an association with resilience, the pattern of correlations of happiness with other variables seen among HCs was similar to that in individuals with schizophrenia. Although happiness may be harder to achieve in the context of a serious mental illness, it nonetheless appears to be a viable treatment goal in schizophrenia. Psychotherapies targeting positive coping factors such as resilience, optimism, and personal mastery warrant further investigation.

Life satisfaction and happiness among young adults with schizophrenia

“…In one, individuals with schizophrenia with a mean age in the 40's reported comparable levels of life satisfaction to healthy control participants, though the groups were not demographically matched complicating interpretation (Strauss et al, 2012). In another study involving elderly participants with schizophrenia and established illness (i.e., mean duration of illness over 20 years), patients were found to report significantly lower levels of happiness than healthy comparison subjects (Palmer et al, 2014). These studies, while informative about the level of subjective well-being in highly selected first-episode patients and more chronically ill samples, do not speak to the well-being of a large cohort of young adult outpatients with schizophrenia.…”

Positive mental health in schizophrenia and healthy comparison groups: relationships with overall health and biomarkers

“…Data for the current study were drawn from an ongoing study of aging and schizophrenia conducted through the University of California, San Diego Center for Healthy Aging. We previously reported data on happiness in a smaller subsample from the ongoing project (Palmer et al, 2014); however, the present study is the first report on the association of several PPFs with objective biomarkers of health status. Diagnostic status was established with the semi-structured Clinical Interview for the DSM-IV-TR or DSM-5 (First, Spitzer, & Gibbon, 2002).…”

“…Given the negative outcomes associated with schizophrenia, it is perhaps not surprising that PPFs are rarely assessed or researched in this population. In an earlier report, our group examined individuals with chronic schizophrenia and found substantial heterogeneity in happiness levels of the sample (Palmer, Martin, Depp, Glorioso, & Jeste, 2014). Another study (Agid et al, 2012) showed that individuals with first-episode schizophrenia were as happy as control participants, despite their functional impairment.…”

Calidad de vida relacionada con la salud, percepción de enfermedad, felicidad y emociones negativas en pacientes con diagnóstico de artritis reumatoide

“…Al respecto, la investigación del constructo felicidad como bienestar subjetivo se ha desarrollado en la psicología de la salud como un importante indicador de calidad de vida en muestras de pacientes crónicos en proceso de hemodiálisis (Bennet, Weinberg, Bridgman & Cummins, 2015;Musschenga, 1997), en personas de la tercera edad con diferentes diagnósticos médicos (Steptoe, Deaton & Stone, 2015) y en personas con esquizofrenia (Palmer, Martin, Deeep, Glorioso & Jeste, 2014).…”