Individual psychological characteristics and features of coping with the disease in patients with the first psychotic episode and post-psychotic depression as targets for psychosocial interventions

Abstract

Purpose of the study: to determine the individual psychological characteristics and features of coping with the disease in patients with the first psychotic episode and post-psychotic depression in order to identify targets for subsequent psychosocial interventions. We examined 1112 patients who underwent the first psychotic episode, of which, after the introduction of inclusion/exclusion criteria, two groups were formed in the final design: 243 patients with postpsychotic depression and 119 patients without depression in partial remission. Clinical and psychopathological method with objectification by PANSS, CDSS scales, clinical and psychological method with diagnostics of coping, psychological defense mechanisms, perfectionism and self-stigmatization by standardized questionnaires were used, regression analysis was carried out using the method of multiple linear regression with stepwise inclusion. From the numerical characteristics of the samples, the arithmetic mean was determined with the calculation of the standard error of the mean, standard deviation. Statistically significant results were accepted at the p<0.05 significance level.Conclusions: the study found a significant effect on the clinical manifestations of postpsychotic depression in patients who underwent PES of schizophrenia, all studied individual psychological characteristics with the highest coping activity, which indicates the undoubted involvement of reactive mechanisms in the development of this type of pathology. This confirms the importance in the treatment of the studied cohort of patients, not only of differentiated psychopharmacotherapy, but also of active psychotherapeutic support with the study of selected “targets” of coping, individual psychological characteristics.