Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-29T18:57:05.140Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Follow-up study of 67 first episode schizophrenic patients and their involvement in religious activities

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 April 2020

P Huguelet ,
S Binyet-Vogel ,
C Gonzalez ,
S Favre  and
A McQuillan
P Huguelet
Affiliation:
Hôpitaux Universitaires de Genève, Département de Psychiatrie, 2 Chemin de Petit Bel Air, 1225Chêne-Bourg, Switzerland
S Binyet-Vogel
Affiliation:
Hôpitaux Universitaires de Genève, Département de Psychiatrie, 2 Chemin de Petit Bel Air, 1225Chêne-Bourg, Switzerland
C Gonzalez
Affiliation:
Hôpitaux Universitaires de Genève, Département de Psychiatrie, 2 Chemin de Petit Bel Air, 1225Chêne-Bourg, Switzerland
S Favre
Affiliation:
Hôpitaux Universitaires de Genève, Département de Psychiatrie, 2 Chemin de Petit Bel Air, 1225Chêne-Bourg, Switzerland
A McQuillan
Affiliation:
Hôpitaux Universitaires de Genève, Département de Psychiatrie, 2 Chemin de Petit Bel Air, 1225Chêne-Bourg, Switzerland
Get access

Summary

We studied the characteristics of religious practice in a cohort of 67 first admission schizophrenic patients over 5 years. Thirty percent of these patients were involved in religious activities, either with an established religion or in a marginal group. They were mostly women, who had a good premorbid psychosocial adaptation and tended not to be substance abusers. Their social adaptation was improved at year 5. They were as compliant with their ambulatory treatment as the other patients. However, when controlling for the inclusion characteristics, a similar outcome was shown between the group of practicing patients and the nonpracticing group. Religious activity may not be by itself the cause of this favorable outcome, as it is probable that only the patients who are less symptomatic and relatively well adapted could actually join a religious movement. The fact that many schizophrenic patients find an occupation and relationships in religious activities that they would not find elsewhere should encourage the psychiatric community target its occupational goals.

Keywords

schizophreniareligionoutcome
Type
Original article
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 12 , Issue 6 , 1997 , pp. 279 - 283
Copyright
Copyright © European Psychiatric Association 1997

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

American Psychiatric Association 4th ednDSM-IV. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders New York: APA, 1994Google Scholar
Aznar, MZVarma, SLReligious psychotherapy as management of bereavement. Acta Psychiatr Scand 1995; 91: 233–235Google Scholar
Crossley, DReligious experience within mental illness: opening the door on research. Br J Psychiatry 1995; 166: 284–286CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Endicott, JSpitzer, RLFleiss, JCohen, JThe Global Assessment Scale: a procedure for measuring overall severity of psychiatric disturbance. Arch Gen Psychiatry 1976; 33: 766–771CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Falcioni, RMScharfetter, CZur Psychopathologie in Frauenklöstern Schweiz Arch Neurol Neurochir Psychiatr 14451993 463–473Google Scholar
Fallon, BHorwath, EAsceticism: creative spiritual practice or pathological pursuit. Psychiatry 1993; 56: 310–316CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goldwert, MThe messiah-complex in schizophrenia. Psychol Rep 1993; 73: 331–335CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greenberg, DWitztum, EBuchbinder, JMysticism and psycho-sis: the fate of Ben Zoma. Br Psychol Soc 1992; 65: 223–235Google Scholar
Hale, APinninti, RExorcism-resistant ghost possession treated with Clopenthixol. Br J Psychiatry 1994; 165: 386–388CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Huguelet, PFavre, SBinyet, SGonzalez, CZabala, IThe use of the Expressed Emotion Index as a predictor of outcome of first admitted schizophrenic patients in a French-speaking area of Switzerland. Acta Psychiatr Scand 1995; 92: 447CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huguelet, PFavre, SBinyet, SGonzalez, CZabala, IEtude des caractéristiques et de l'impact de la toxicomanie chez une cohorte de patients schizophrènes suivis durant cinq ans. Arch Suisses Neurol Psychiatr 1996; 147: 178–183Google Scholar
Koenig, HGCohen, HJBlazer, D, et al.Religious coping and depression among elderly, hospitalized medically ill men. Am J Psychiatry 1992; 149: 1693–1700Google ScholarPubMed
Larson, DPattison, MBlazer, D, et al.Systematic analysis of research on religious variables in four major psychiatric journals 1978-1982. Am J Psychiatry 1986; 143: 329–334Google ScholarPubMed
Lukoff, DLu, FTurner, RToward a more culturally sensitive DSM-IV, psychoreligious and psychospiritual problems. J Nerv Ment Dis 1992; 180: 673–682CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vaughn, CLeff, JThe measurement of expressed emotion in the families of psychiatric patients Br J Clin Soc Psychol 1976; 15: 157–165CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wing, JKCooper, JESartorius, NThe Description and Classification of Psychiatric Symptoms: An Instructional Manual for the use of the PSE and Catego System Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1974Google Scholar
World Health, OrganisationPsychiatric Disability Schedule Geneva: WHO, 1988Google Scholar
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.