Experience of Subjective Symptoms in Euthymic Bipolar Disorder and Remitted Schizophrenia Patients and its Relation with Quality of Life and Social Functioning

Abstract

Introduction : Subjective experience means subtle, not yet psychotic abnormalities of experience that might be present during remitted phase and also in prodromal phase of schizophrenia and might be accurately efficient in identifying individual at risk of eminent psychosis. Most studies on the subjective experiences have been conducted in schizophrenia and to a lesser extent in affective disorders.Only few studies have compared subjective experience of patients with bipolar disorder with the patients with schizophrenia, and the results were inconsistent. These subjective experiences may be related to distorted cognitive functions in these patients. Cognitive deficits are a major contributor to the functional and social impairment suffered by these patients and have been noted to have more of an impact on the daily lifeand overall quality of life of these patients. Objective : The current study aims at comparing the subjective experience in schizophrenia and bipolar patients, in order to elucidate the difference between the two groups and this study was further extended to measure the effect of subjective experiences on one’s occupational and social functioning. Method : The study was conducted on 30 euthymic bipolar patients and 30 remitted schizophrenic patients diagnosed as per ICD-10. The patients were rated for on Frankfurt Complaint Questionnaire (FCQ-24) and Symptoms check list 90 revised (SCL90-R) to assess subjective symptoms. Work and social adjustment scale, functional status questionnaire and WHO-QOL BREF were administered one by one on the patient. Results : Diagnosis of schizophrenia was associated with elevated score on FCQ as compared to bipolar disorders mainly in the areas of perception, thought, language and motility as well as total FCQ scores. FCQ scores correlated negatively with scores on functional status questionnaire, positively with work and social adjustment scale and negatively with all the domains of WHOQOL BREF except environment/financial resources. Conclusion : These findings, in conjunction with those from other, methodologically similar studies, suggest that certain anomalies of subjective experience aggregate significantly in schizophrenia when compared with bipolar disorders and adversely affected their functioning and quality of life Keywords : subjective symptoms, euthymic bipolar disorder, remitted schizophrenia