Early maladaptive schemas predict positive symptomatology in schizophrenia: a cross-sectional study

Recent literature has shown the role of social factors, such as childhood negative experiences and attachment styles, in the genesis of psychotic symptoms. So far, despite this association with childhood negative experiences and a wide range of psychiatric disorders, no study has yet attempted to assess early maladaptive schemas (EMSs) in patients with schizophrenia as primary diagnosis. A sample of 48 patients diagnosed with schizophrenia and 44 control participants answered the schema questionnaire short form's French validation, and were assessed with the positive and negative syndrome scale as well as a scale of depression symptomatology. Results showed that, after controlling for depression, patients with schizophrenia achieved higher scores than control subjects on six EMSs. The EMSs were associated with positive, but not negative, symptomatology. After controlling for depression, only the Mistrust/Abuse schema was a significant predictor of positive symptoms accounting for a small portion (12.4%) of the variance. The results highlight the importance of focusing not only on the schizophrenic symptoms but also on the person and his or her subjective development of self. Therefore, these results suggest that Young's schema theory may be applied to schizophrenic patients.