Life satisfaction and adjustment in lithium-treated affective patients in remission

The aim of this study was to assess life satisfaction and adjustment of lithium-treated affective patients in remission. Scores of life satisfaction and adjustment in four areas were obtained for two experimental groups of 50 unipolars and 50 bipolars and for two control groups of 50 healthy individuals and 50 patients with personality disorders. Subjects' self-assessments and psychiatrists' evaluation were rated using a modification of Cantril's ladder device. No significant differences were found between affective patients and healthy controls regarding life satisfaction and adjustment, whereas psychiatric controls scored significantly less on most indices. Moreover, the treating psychiatrists rated affective patients significantly higher than psychiatric controls and perceived them as actualizing their potential to a greater degree. Thus, it is concluded that neither the affective illness nor lithium as a prophylactic agent interfered with the patients' feelings of satisfaction or with manifest functioning while in remission.