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Indirect self-destructiveness in individuals with schizophrenia
1Department of Psychology, The Jan Kochanowski University in Kielce, Piotrków Trybunalski Branch, Poland.
Objective:
To explore the indirect self-destructiveness syndrome in patients with schizophrenia.
Methods:
Two hundred individuals with paranoid schizophrenia (117 men and 83 women, mean age 37.15 years), all in remission, were examined using the Polish version of the Chronic Self-Destructiveness Scale. Two hundred well-matched healthy individuals served as a control group.
Results:
The intensity of indirect self-destructiveness was greater in the schizophrenia group than in controls. The intensity of each manifestation was as follows (in decreasing order): helplessness and passiveness in the face of difficulties (A5), personal and social neglects (A3), lack of planfulness (A4), poor health maintenance (A2), transgression and risk (A1).
Conclusion:
Patients with schizophrenia displayed more behaviors that were indirectly self-destructive than healthy controls; they scored better than healthy controls only on caring for their own health. The patients showed the lowest intensity of behaviors connected with the active form of indirect self-destructiveness, and the highest intensity of behaviors connected with the passive form. These findings may enable delivery of more effective forms of pharmacological and psychosocial help to patients with schizophrenia.
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