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Schizophrenia is among the most severe forms of mental illness, yet some people with the disease are as happy as those who work in good mental and physical health based on research led by researchers at the University of California, San Diego Med school.
The study is published online now within the journal Schizophrenia Research.
“People tend to believe that happiness in schizophrenia is definitely an oxymoron,” said senior author Dilip V. Jeste, MD, Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry and Neurosciences.
“Without discounting the suffering this ailment inflicts on people, our study shows that happiness is definitely an attainable goal for at least some schizophrenia patients,” said Jeste, who’s also the Estelle and Edgar Levi Chair in Aging and director from the Sam and Rose Stein Institute for Research on Aging at UC North park. “This means we can help make these individuals’ lives happier.”
In a survey of individuals using the disease, researchers discovered that 37 percent of patients reported being happy all or more often than not.
Of clinical significance in terms of helping individuals with mental illness, the patients’ happiness was unrelated towards the severity or duration of their illness, to cognitive or physical function or to socioeconomic factors such as age and education, which among healthy adults happen to be associated with a greater feeling of well-being.
Instead, the study implies that happiness among those with chronic forms of schizophrenia is associated with positive psychological and social attributes such as resilience, optimism minimizing perceived stress.
The researchers believe that these positive psychosocial attributes could be taught through behavioral modification and mindfulness training techniques.
The study is based on market research of 72 English-speaking outpatients with schizophrenia within the North park area. During the time of laptop computer, basically nine of the patients were on a minumum of one anti-psychotic medication and 59 percent were residents in assisted-living facilities.
The comparison group for the study included 64 healthy men and women who were part of a continuing study on successful aging. These participants weren’t currently using alcohol or illicit substances and did not have diagnoses of dementia or any other neurological problems. Participants ranged in age from 23 to 70 years old; the mean age for groups was 50 years.
The survey probed respondents’ happiness during the previous week, asking to rate statements such as “I was happy” and “I enjoyed life” on a scale from “never or rarely” to “all or more often than not.”
Responses suggest that about 37 percent of schizophrenia patients were happy most or all of the time, compared with about 83 percent for those within the comparison group.
Approximately 15 % of schizophrenia patients reported being never or rarely happy. By comparison, none of within the comparison group reported this type of low-level of happiness for that week prior.
People’s self-reported happiness was then examined with regards to additional factors, such as age, gender, education, circumstances, medication status, anxiety levels and other mental health metrics, as well as physical health, cognitive function, along with a listing of “psychosocial factors” that included perceived stress, attitude toward aging, spirituality, optimism, resilience and private mastery.
“People with schizophrenia are clearly less happy compared to those in the general population in particular, but this isn’t surprising,” said lead author Barton W. Palmer, PhD, professor in the UC San Diego Department of Psychiatry. “What is impressive is the fact that almost 40 % of those people are reporting happiness which their happiness is assigned to positive psychosocial attributes that can be potentially enhanced.”
