Schizophrenic Individuals Research Articles

Invisible Diversity: Multilevel View of Work Related Issues Facing Individuals with Schizophrenia

Informed by a relational perspective of managing diversity, this study focuses on the following question: what multilevel issues are experienced by individuals with schizophrenia in their work and career? Drawing on 30 semi-structured interviews with schizophrenic individuals, their family members, healthcare professionals and NGO representatives, the findings suggest that at the societal-level, social stigma, economic conditions and lack of government support pose challenges to schizophrenic individuals. At the organizational-level, workplace support and person-job fit affect their employment. At the individual-level, self-stigma affects their employability in a negative way whereas personal motivation and resilience, support and realization of illness are facilitating factors. The study adds to diversity and disability literature by highlighting not only the invisibility of diversity and inequality facing individuals with schizophrenia but also demonstrates the interconnectedness of the factors and suggests that their work and employment-related issues may be simultaneously addressed at multiple levels.

Altered Complement System Activity in Schizophrenia: Overexpression of C4 and/or Abnormal Expression of Complement Control Proteins in the DLPFC, Parietal Cortex, Temporal Cortex, Associative Striatum, Hippocampus, Cerebellum and Whole Blood

IntroductionIn schizophrenia, abnormal synaptic pruning during adolescence may be due to an altered Complement system activity. While this hypothesis is supported by C4 overexpression in various brain regions of individuals with schizophrenia, such alterations should be replicated and extended to other brain regions relevant to schizophrenia. Moreover, transcriptional studies of genes coding for proteins regulating the Complement system activity are lacking. Furthermore, it remains unknown whether cerebral and peripheral expression of C4 and Complement control proteins (CCP) are related.ObjectivesTo identify altered expression of C4 and CCP (CSMD1, CSMD2, CD46) coding genes at the cerebral and peripheral levels in schizophrenic individuals.MethodsWe explored C4 and CCP coding genes expression at the cerebral and peripheral levels. Using shinyGEO application we analyzed gene expression from eight Gene Expression Omnibus datasets obtained from 196 schizophrenic individuals and 182 control subjects. First, we compared gene expression between schizophrenic patients and controls in postmortem cerebral samples from 7 different brain regions. Then, we compared gene expression between schizophrenic patients and controls in 4 peripheral tissues.ResultsWe observed C4 overexpression in the DLPFC, parietal, temporal cortex and associative striatum of schizophrenic individuals. We report altered transcriptional patterns of CCP genes in the DLPFC, hippocampus and cerebellum of schizophrenic individuals. CD46 expression was altered in opposite directions between brain and blood of schizophrenic individuals. No significant alteration of C4 expression was observed in peripheral tissues.ConclusionsOur results support the hypothesis of an altered Complement system activity in various brain regions of schizophrenic individuals which may disrupt the synaptic pruning process during adolescence.DisclosureNo significant relationships.

Molecular genetic study of clinical and cognitive features of schizophrenia: No associations with genes SOD2, GSTO1, NQO1

The main features of schizophrenia are characterized by three domains of symptoms, including positive symptoms, negative symptoms, and cognitive defi cits, the overlap of which forms a polymorphism of clinical manifestations. Previous molecular genetic studies have found signifi cant genetic overlaps between the cognitive abilities and the risk of schizophrenia developing. Recent evidence suggests that oxidative stress may play an important role in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia.Aim. The aim of the study was to investigate the associations of polymorphisms of genes encoding the antioxidant enzymes SOD2, GSTO1, and NQO1 with clinical polymorphism of schizophrenia and the severity of cognitive deficit.Material and Methods. A comprehensive examination of 457 patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia was carried out. Out of the total group of examined patients, cognitive functions were assessed using the BACS scale in 150 schizophrenic patients. The control group comprised 135 healthy individuals with age and gender corresponding to patient group. Their cognitive function was assessed. Genotyping of SOD2 (rs4880), GSTO1 (rs4925), and NQO1 (rs1800566) was done by realtime PCR.Results. When analyzing the distribution of genotypes and alleles of polymorphic variants of genes encoding the antioxidant enzymes SOD2, GSTO1, and NQO1, no associations between the studied loci and schizophrenia in the Russian population of the Siberian region were revealed. Also, no associations were found with clinical polymorphism of disease (disease course type, leading symptoms (positive or negative), and age of disease onset). The cognitive abilities of schizophrenic patients and healthy individuals were diff erent as expected, but no associations with genetic characteristics were found.Conclusion. In this work, we obtained negative results in regard to associations of polymorphic variants of genes encoding the antioxidant enzymes SOD2 (rs4880), GSTO1 (rs4925), and NQO1 (rs1800566) with the development of schizophrenia in the Russian population in the Siberian region, as well as with the severity of cognitive defi cit. The genetic profi le for the studied loci did not aff ect the clinical manifestations of disease in the examined sample.

Wavelet Based and Statistical EEG Analysis in Patients with Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia, which is considered a serious mental disorder and a psychological illness, is quite common in society today. Schizophrenia manifests itself with disordered thought development, hallucinations, and different behaviours and reactions. In this study, EEG data were collected and analyzed on a total of 84 subjects diagnosed with normal and schizophrenia. EEG data used as a diagnostic tool with low-resolution level has been used to distinguish between schizophrenic and normal individuals. First of all, statistical methods were used in the analyzes, and also frequency properties of the data were extracted by Wavelet analysis. As a result of the analysis, statistical findings include characteristics that distinguish between diagnosed schizophrenia and normal individuals. In addition, the findings obtained as a result of the Wavelet analysis were determined to distinguish between normal and schizophrenic individuals. While the mean used in statistical analysis takes the value 1.6 for normal individuals, it takes the value 2.9 for individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia. Also, in the results of Continuous Wavelet (CW) Analysis, very important findings were obtained in terms of detection in scale 16 and 64 bands.

The Compliance with Rehabilitation for People with Schizophrenia among Primary Caregivers in Nam Dinh Province, Vietnam

OBJECTIVES: Individuals with schizophrenia manifest the different expressions, behaviors, and personality. Failure to comply with rehabilitation for the patient may impair the patient and caregiver’s quality of life; preventing the patient from self-care, and it is an economic burden for the family and society and chronic progression of the disease. This study aims to determine the compliance with rehabilitation for people with schizophrenia among primary caregivers. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Participants of 352 primary caregivers of people with schizophrenia were recruited from Nam Dinh General Hospital and Nam Dinh Psychiatric Hospital, Nam Dinh province, Vietnam. To measure the variable of compliance, the researchers designed a caregiver’s compliance with rehabilitation questionnaire. The instrument was validated by three content experts including, a psychiatric physician, a psychiatric nurse and a psychiatric instructor. RESULT: The research results indicated that the caregivers of people with schizophrenia complied with rehabilitation at a good level of 27.6%, average level of 34.4% and poor level of 38%. There was correlation between caregiver’s age, being supported from others and patient’s illness severity level and compliance with rehabilitation of primary caregivers of people with schizophrenia. CONCLUSION: Health-care workers should design an intervention program to improve primary caregiver adherence to rehabilitation for schizophrenic individuals to enhance caregiver’s compliance for schizophrenia rehabilitation, which should have relation to caregiver’s age, being supported from others and patient’s illness severity level.

SEROPREVALENCE OF TOXOPLASMA GONDII IN SCHIZOPHRENIC PATIENTS VERSUS HEALTHY INDIVIDUALS AND ITS POSSIBLE IMPACT ON HUMAN SERUM DOPAMINE LEVEL

Several studies demonstrated a high seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii in schizophrenicpatients than healthy individuals. This case control study determined the serprevalence of T.gondii among schizophrenic patients and healthy individuals at Kafrelsheikh UniversityHospitals and to estimate its effect on serum dopamine level. T. gondii IgG was detected in52.2% &23.9% of schizophrenic patients and healthy individuals respectively with significance(P value = 0.005). Serum dopamine level was higher in schizophrenic patients thanhealthy individuals with statistical significance (P = <0.001) and also higher in T. gondii IgGpositive than T. gondii IgG negative patients with statistical significance (P = <0.001).

Calcium Levels Differences in Men with Schizophrenia Treated with Olanzapine and Risperidone in Prof. Dr. M Ildrem Psychiatric Hospital Medan

BACKGROUND: Second generation of antipsychotic medications is widely administrated in Indonesia and there is a distinctive difference in plasma calcium level in those receiving risperidone and olanzapine. According to several studies, decreased bone density is one of the deleterious effects affecting schizophrenic individuals receiving risperidone and olanzapine. AIM: The objective of the study was to determine the difference in serum calcium levels between men with schizophrenia who treated with olanzapine and risperidone at Prof. Dr. M Ildrem Psychiatric Hospital, Medan. METHODS: This is an experimental pre-test and post-test that compares two groups, namely the intervention group and the control group. Eligible subjects are those who meet our inclusion criteria in the following; age between 15 and 35 years old, total score of PANSS between 90 and 150, and normal serum calcium level. The subjects of the study were 60 men with schizophrenia, namely 30 who received olanzapine and 30 who received risperidone. The sampling method is non-probability sampling with a consecutive sampling type. RESULTS: There was a decrease in the total serum calcium level with the antipsychotic risperidone and olanzapine after 4 weeks, and a higher decrease occurred in the risperidone treatment group compared to olanzapine (p = 0.023). CONCLUSION: There was a significant decrease in serum calcium levels among men with schizophrenia who received risperidone therapy compared with those who received olanzapine therapy between the beginning and the end of week 4. It is expected that clinicians can consider giving antipsychotic therapy olanzapine in people with schizophrenia with low calcium levels.

An accurate automated schizophrenia detection using TQWT and statistical moment based feature extraction

Nowadays, abnormal brain activities can be automatically detected and classified by processing EEG signals. In this paper, the classification process of EEG signals collected from healthy and schizophrenic individuals was carried out. For this purpose, firstly, feature extraction from 19-channel EEG signals with healthy and schizophrenia classes was performed using Tunable Q-Factor Wavelet Transform (TQWT) and statistical moment methods. After this process, feature selection was made using the ReliefF method and the extracted features were reduced. In the last stage of the study, these features were classified using the ensemble subspace k-Nearest Neighbor (kNN) method. As a result of the proposed method, performance values ​​for each channel were calculated and 99.12 % accuracy was achieved. When the obtained results are compared with the studies in the literature, it is seen that the method is extremely fast and successful.

Quality of life of family primary caregivers of individuals with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia in south of Brazil.

The process of deinstitutionalization of individuals with mental disorders (MD) brought greater family responsibility in terms of patient care. Evaluate the Quality of Life (QoL) and its associated factors of primary caregivers of bipolar and schizophrenic subjects. A cross-sectional survey was conducted from 2012 to 2015 with 125 caregivers at an outpatient service of a teaching hospital in the South of Brazil. QoL instruments (WHOQOL-Bref, SF-36), questionnaires regarding socio-demographic, clinical data and depressive symptoms (BDI) were applied. Caregivers of schizophrenic individuals presented lower QoL scores than caregivers of bipolar individuals, with moderate effect in physical, and social domains of WHOQOL-Bref, and in physical functioning, role-physical, and role-emotional domains of SF-36. QoL scores of caregivers were lower when compared with the normative data of the Brazilian population. The factors associated with lower QoL scores were: patient diagnosis of schizophrenia, female gender, presence of clinical disease and presence of depressive symptoms in the caregiver. Caregivers of patients with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder present a significant impairment in their QoL when compared with the general population, highlighting the relevance of developing support programs in the mental health services that include these caregivers.

The effects of background music tempo on the work attention performance of workers with schizophrenia.

Work attention in employees with schizophrenia is a significant issue in vocational rehabilitation. Background music is very popular in workplaces, and according to some investigations, can help increase attention at work if utilized appropriately. This study investigates the influence of background music tempo on attention performance in employees with chronic schizophrenia. A randomized controlled trial (RCT) study was performed to test the attention of 240 participants with chronic schizophrenia under four conditions, namely no music, fast tempo, slow tempo and white noise. Employees with schizophrenia achieved higher attention scores under background music than in a no-music environment. Additionally, slow-tempo music produced higher attention scores than fast-tempo music. Observational results indicate that slow-tempo background music is more desirable than fast-tempo background music in a work environment involving schizophrenic individuals.

S223. DETERMINANTS OF SUSTAINED UNEMPLOYMENT IN FORMERLY EMPLOYED SCHIZOPHRENIA PATIENTS

BackgroundVocational drift, or the suggestion that severe mental illness leads to reductions in occupational attainment, has been repeatedly observed in schizophrenia. Neurocognition, social functioning, education, environment, and previous work experience have been implicated in patients’ ability to acquire and maintain a job. Interestingly, some patients with successful prior work histories can develop chronic unemployment. In this study, we analyzed a sample of schizophrenic individuals with varying histories of obtaining and sustaining employment to examine vocational drift through the lens of vocational deterioration. We hypothesized that 1) social cognitive variables would be more impaired in patients with a long duration of unemployment and 2) neurocognitive deficits would be more prominent in patients who were never employed.Methods396 patients between 18 and 70 years old with a diagnosis of Schizophrenia, Schizoaffective Disorder, or First Episode Spectrum Disorder were included in this analysis. Measures included comprehensive clinical, neurocognitive, social cognitive, and functional assessments. Samples were divided into groups based on their employment history.Although our original sample included currently employed patients, the following groups were examined as a function of vocational drift: a) Never (n=150), individuals who have never had a job and b) Formerly employed (n=138), individuals who had a job for at least two years in the past but are currently unemployed. Among unemployed patients, we identified those with Short (less than 2 years; n=65), Intermediate (2 to 5 years; n=87), and Extended (more than 5 years; n=136) unemployment.ResultsIn the overall comparison of Formerly employed patients, those with Short and Intermediate duration of unemployment did not differ from each other on any variables and performed better than Extended duration unemployment patients on measures of premorbid intelligence (WRAT, p<.01), processing speed (Symbol coding, p<.01), emotion recognition (BLERT, p<.01 and ER-40, p<.01), theory of mind (Hinting test, p<.05) and hostile cognitive bias (AIHQ Blame, p<.01). Interestingly, patients with Extended unemployment had less depression (BDI total, p<.01) compared to patients who Never worked. The Extended unemployment patients performed worse than the Never employed patients on premorbid intelligence (WRAT, p<.01), processing speed (Symbol coding, p<.05), emotion recognition (BLERT, p<.01 and ER-40, p<.01), theory of mind (Hinting test, p<.05), social inference (TASIT, p<.01), hostile cognitive bias (AIHQ Blame, p<.01), and had higher clinical ratings on PANSS Blunted affect (P<.01) and Poor Rapport (p<.01).DiscussionThe development of long-term unemployment in patients with schizophrenia is associated with multiple neurocognitive and social cognitive deficits, particularly when compared to patients who have never been employed. These deficits were also notable when compared to patients with a shorter duration of unemployment. It is not possible to determine if these long-term unemployed patients always exhibited these deficits, suggesting additional support for vocational drift among patients with schizophrenia. The possible deterioration in neurocognitive and social cognitive performance over time may be driving the development of long-term unemployment in previously employed patients, who in many ways, underperformed compared to patients who had never worked.

Clinical and laboratory characteristics of clozapine-treated patients with schizophrenia referred to a national immunodeficiency clinic reveals a B-cell signature resembling common variable immunodeficiency (CVID)

AimsAn association between antibody deficiency and clozapine use in individuals with schizophrenia has recently been reported. We hypothesised that if clozapine-associated hypogammaglobulinaemia was clinically relevant this would manifest in referral...

Preferences, Descriptions, and Response Latency to Fractal Images Among Individuals With and Without Schizophrenia

Background: Early simple, low-cost diagnosis of schizophrenia may accelerate the beginning of the treatment process. Here, utilizing the projective tools, including fractal images, are some of the diagnostic aids. Objectives: This study aimed to compare the preferences, descriptions, and response latency to fractal images between schizophrenic and healthy individuals. Materials &amp; Methods: In this case-control study, the statistical population included all schizophrenic patients hospitalized in Shafa Hospital in Rasht City, Guilan, Iran, in summer 2018 and matched healthy individuals considering the gender and age. Twelve fractal images were shown to schizophrenic patients and healthy people, and their psychological projections to these pictures were recorded. Results: For the image called extraviganze, the latency time to elicit the descriptions in patients was noticeably more than that in the healthy group (t=2.465, df=58, P=0.017). Meanwhile, the patients’ interest in dark and dreadful fractals such as fractal beings, North, and Apophys eyes was significantly higher than that in the healthy group (P&lt;0.05). However, people with schizophrenia refrained from bright, light fractals with a regular geometric/graphical structure such as Gridspace and redf-shift images (P&lt;0.05). The people with schizophrenia provide less appropriate associations and more irrelevant descriptions, especially about the abstractive and complex fractals, compared to the healthy group. Conclusion: The latency to elicit descriptions for fractal images in people with schizophrenia is longer than that in the healthy group, and they have more pauses, irrelevant, and incoherent speech when describing more abstractive images. People with schizophrenia prefer darker, more dreadful images and avoid clear, luminous, and fractal images with a regular geometric/graphical pattern.

Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification (LAMP) Assay to Detect Toxoplasmosis in Schizophrenia Patients.

Background:Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) causes an important parasitic infection known as toxoplasmosis, which is a globally distributed important zoonosis. One of the major serious characteristics of T. gondii is its ability to manipulate the behavior of intermediate hosts. We performed a cross-sectional study to determine toxoplasmosis in schizophrenic patients, as one of the major neuropsychiatric disorders, using loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) technic by targeting parasite B1 gene.Methods:Blood samples were taken from 118 schizophrenic patients hospitalized in tow hospitals including Baharan, Clinic of Psychiatric Ali-ibn-Abi-Talib Hospital (in Zahedan City), and Amir-al Momenin Psychiatric Hospital (in Zabol City), Sistan and Baluchestan Province, southeast Iran in 2016. They were analyzed using LAMP, and compared with the previous data of nested-PCR and serology.Results:Out of the 118 schizophrenic individuals, 56 patients (47.4%) were found to be infected with T. gondii. The diagnosis of toxoplasmosis was confirmed in 41 patients (34.7%) via the nested-PCR. The seroprevalence of toxoplasmosis in schizophrenic patients was 55.9% (66/118).Conclusion:We found a high efficiency of LAMP method in identifying toxoplasmosis and its high prevalence among schizophrenic patients. Our findings could provide viable offer implications for the prevention of schizophrenia.

Особенности нарушений мышления, социальной перцепции и саморегуляции у больных шизофренией с криминальным анамнезом

The article researches the social perception and self-regulation in people with schizophrenia who had criminal case history (due to the prevailing type of their thinking impairment). The presented materials of empirical study were obtained with the sample of schizophrenic individuals with criminal case records. The study included analysis of the medical histories, expert judgements and also diagnostics of self-regulation, self-control, social perception and negative symptomatology of the patients. The schizophrenic patients with prevailing impairments in cognitive dynamics are distinguished by underdeveloped ability to program, tendency to value judgement, lack of empathy and producing minimal numbers of possible scenarios. Persons with prevailing impairments in the operational thought are shown to have poor ability for goal-setting, tendency to come up with socially unacceptable ways of resolving situations. Impairments in the motivational aspect of thinking are linked with infusion of the patients' personal ideas in the interpretation process, and also problems in recognizing emotional modalities of displayed characters.

A retrospective cohort study of the prevalence of anxiety and agitation in schizophrenic smokers and the unmet needs of smoking cessation programs.

Achieving abstinence in schizophrenic smokers using a combination of medications and cognitive behavioral therapy is feasible; however, abstinence rates are significantly lower compared to the general population and studies are scanty. Additionally, maintaining sustained abstinence and preventing relapse is a major limiting factor and represents key tasks in managing tobacco dependence in schizophrenic patients. Several theories have been postulated to explain the higher tendency of tobacco use among schizophrenic individuals. Schizophrenic patients may use nicotine as a “self-medication” strategy to improve negative symptoms of schizophrenia. However, studies suggest that although nicotine may act as an anxiolytic acutely, chronic use of nicotine may lead to increased anxiety with the possibility of increased catecholamines, which is confirmed with the prevalence of tachycardia and hypertension in smokers in general. On this basis, the main objective of our present study was to assess anxiety in schizophrenic smoking and nonsmoking patients by comparing the number of anxiety and agitation episodes and evaluating the amount of antianxiety/antiagitation medication used by each group. A separate objective was to document the unmet needs of smoking cessation programs in treating schizophrenic patients. Consequently, in the present retrospective cohort study, it was observed that schizophrenic smokers tend to have higher anxiety episodes and utilize as-needed medications at a higher frequency compared to nonsmokers for the relief of anxiety and agitation symptoms. Further research is warranted to examine these results on a larger scale.

A Critical Period for the Development of Schizophrenia-Like Pathology by Aberrant Postnatal Neurogenesis

Schizophrenia is a complex and serious mental disorder, and patients with schizophrenia are characterized by psychological hallucinations, deregulated emotionality, and cognitive impairment. Evidence indicated that postnatal neurogenesis in the hippocampus is profoundly impaired in schizophrenic individuals but the role of such dysregulated neurodevelopmental processing in the pathophysiological progress of schizophrenia has not been well investigated. Here in this study, by using the rodent model of schizophrenia through maternal immune activation of poly (I:C) injection, we aimed to examine whether the postnatal neurogenesis might be involved in the development of schizophrenia-like pathology. Through the comprehensive behavioral analyses of multiple core symptoms of schizophrenia at different developmental stages (6-, 9-, and 12-weeks after birth) of the affected offspring, we found a delayed onset of schizophrenia-like behaviors in poly (I:C) animals through the development. Meanwhile, there is an age-dependent alteration of postnatal neurogenesis in the poly (I:C) animals along different development stages by which the aberrant dendritic elaboration functionally correlated with the schizophrenia-like symptoms in 9-week-old of age for the animals. Interestingly, increase in the neurogenesis during a critical period of neurodevelopment exacerbates the schizophrenia-like pathology. Conversely, temporal suppression of aberrant postnatal neurogenesis during the same period of neurodevelopment ameliorates the occurrence of schizophrenia-like symptoms. Together, these findings strongly suggested the aberrant dendritic growth of postnatal neurogenesis during the critical time window of development is essential for controlling the pathophysiological progression of schizophrenia-like symptoms. And pharmacological treatments that adjust these abnormalities may provide potential therapeutic benefits toward patients with schizophrenia in clinic.

Screening for rare epigenetic variations in autism and schizophrenia.

While many studies have led to the identification of rare sequence variants linked with susceptibility to autism and schizophrenia, the contribution of rare epigenetic variations (epivariations) in these disorders remains largely unexplored. Previously we presented evidence that epivariations occur relatively frequently in the human genome, and likely contribute to a subset of congenital and neurodevelopmental disorders through the disruption of dosage-sensitive genes. Here we extend this approach, studying methylation profiles from 297 samples with autism and 767 cases with schizophrenia, identifying 84 and 268 rare epivariations in these two cohorts, respectively, that were absent from 4,860 population controls. We observed multiple features associated with these epivariations that support their pathogenic relevance, including (a) a significant enrichment for epivariations in schizophrenic individuals at genes previously linked with schizophrenia, (b) increased brain expression of genes associated with epivariations found in autism cases compared with controls, (c) in autism families, a significant excess of epivariations found specifically in affected versus unaffected sibs, (d) Gene Ontology terms linked with epivariations found in autism, including "D1 dopamine receptor binding." Our study provides additional evidence that rare epivariations likely contribute to the mutational spectra underlying neurodevelopmental disorders.

Movement responses in the Rorschach test. Part 1 Testing healthy and schizophrenic individuals

Abstract Introduction: The theoretical basis for the present article is Zygmunt Piotrowski’s concept of prototypal role. This role is understood as a self-concept and as a mechanism guiding and stabilizing relations with the environment. The concept of prototypal role can be regarded as similar to the concept of self. It is possible to assess the prototypal role by analyzing the movement responses obtained during an examination using the Rorschach test. Empirical data suggest that patients with schizophrenia have an insufficiently developed or peculiarly formed prototypal role and experience certain difficulties in expressing this role. Material and method: The number of 32 individuals with schizophrenia and 21 healthy individuals were examined using the Rorschach test. Apart from the analysis of movement and posture responses; responses interpreting the shading (chiaroscuro) visible in the inkblots were taken into consideration. Responses of the latter kind are considered to be a measure of anxiety. Results: There found no differences in the most significant variables, the number of human movement responses was not lower in the group of subjects with schizophrenia, and the number of human movement responses not adequately reflecting the form of the inkblots was not higher in schizophrenic individuals. Some of the movement qualities distinguished by Piotrowski were significantly correlated with anxiety, but these associations were not always consistent with the predictions. Discussion: Data analysis revealed no specificity in the development of prototypal role in schizophrenic individuals; difficulties in the expression of this role were not frequent and occurred mainly in schizophrenic women as compared to healthy ones. More differences occurred between schizophrenic women and schizophrenic men, what may attest to the influence of gender on the experience of adaptation to disease. Conclusions: The analysis of movement responses and shading responses provides the basis not so much for differentiating health and disease as for better insight into the very psychological significance of movement and shading responses.

A comparison of sleep, fatigue and quality of life of healthy and schizophrenic individuals

A comparison of sleep, fatigue and quality of life of healthy and schizophrenic individuals