Autores UNAM:
ANA FRESAN ORELLANA; DIANA PATRICIA GUIZAR SANCHEZ;

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Autores externos:

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Idioma:
Inglés

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Año de publicación:
2015

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Palabras clave:

Character; Internalized stigma; Personality; Schizophrenia; Temperament

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Resumen:

Background: Schizophrenia is one of the most severe and disabling mental disorder that dramatically affects the individual who suffers it as well as the patient's family, with direct and indirect social and economic consequences. Individuals with schizophrenia face a double challenge: coping with the symptoms and disabilities resulting from disease and they also have to face the stigma that surrounds the disease especially due to conventional stereotypes that emphasizes split personality and violent behavior as the most outstanding features of the disease. In addition, it has been reported that many of these stigmatizing social misconceptions of the disease are internalized by the patient, which leads that patients have stigmatizing negative attitudes toward themselves. This phenomenon, known as internalized stigma, has negative consequences for the patient as it causes social isolation, low self esteem, poor adherence to treatment, greater comorbidity (depression and anxiety) and greater institutionalization. Personality has been linked on how patients with schizophrenia express the illness and it may be related to the resilience of stigma and the further development and intensity of internalized stigma. It is currently unknown whether temperament and character features in patients with schizophrenia may interact with both psychosocial and psychopatho- logical variables in the development of internalized stigma. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to assess internalized stigma and determine its association with temperament and character features in patients with schizophrenia. Method: A total of 102 patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia according to DSM-IV criteria were consecutively included in the study. All patients were over 18 years old and had were clinically stable, in accordance to the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), the Calgary Depression Scale for Schizophrenia (CDSS) and clinical consensus of two psychiatrists, in order to complete the questionnaires of the study. Patients were excluded if they had any concomitant medical or neurological illness, current substance abuse or dependence, with the exception of nicotine, and if they were agitated. Internalized stigma was assessed with the King's Internalized Stigma Scale. The Temperament and Character Inventory-Revised (TCI-R) was used to assess temperament and character personality dimensions of the patients. Results: Of the 102 patients included in the study, 66.7% (n = 68) were male and 33.3% (n = 34) were women with a mean age of 36.7 (SD = 11.0) years (range 18-64). Most patients were diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia (n= 86, 84.3%). The age of illness onset was at 26.2 years (SD = 8.2, range 14-51 years) and duration of untreated psychosis (DUP) was 61 weeks (SD = 47.8, range 2-200 weeks). Significant differences emerged in the temperament dimensions Novelty Seeking (NS) and Harm Avoidance (HA) between patients with high-internalized stigma and those with low-internalized stigma. Also, significant associations were observed between the character dimension Self-Transcendence and the specific area of internalized stigma named Positive Aspects of Illness. Conclusion: People with schizophrenia experience negative effects on their mental illness from internalized stigma regardless of the clinical course or progression of the disease. Intervention strategies must go far beyond the use of medications; interventions that consider individual differences such as personality are needed. Individual features as personality are essential for the development of effective rehabilitation programs for the patient with schizophrenia. The patient should not adopt the same attitude as society toward their illness and these individualized programs may strengthen positive personality features of the patients promoting a better management in how they face stigmatization and internalized it. Physicians should be aware of this problem and allow for communication as part of a comprehensive treatment. © 2015 by Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Entidades citadas de la UNAM:

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