Experience of subjective symptoms in Euthymic Bipolar Dis-order 6 and remitted Schizophrenia patients and its relation with Quality of Life and Social Functioning

Abstract

Introduction : Subjective experience means subtle, not yet psychotic abnormalities of experience
that might be present during remitted phase and also in prodromal phase of schizophrenia and
might be accurately efficient in identifying individual at risk of eminent psychosis. Most studies on
the subjective experiences have been conducted in schizophrenia and to a lesser extent in affective
disorders.Only few studies have compared subjective experience of patients with bipolar disorder
with the patients with schizophrenia, and the results were inconsistent. These subjective experiences
may be related to distorted cognitive functions in these patients. Cognitive deficits are a major
contributor to the functional and social impairment suffered by these patients and have been noted
to have more of an impact on the daily lifeand overall quality of life of these patients.
Objective : The current study aims at comparing the subjective experience in schizophrenia and
bipolar patients, in order to elucidate the difference between the two groups and this study was
further extended to measure the effect of subjective experiences on one’s occupational and social
functioning.
Method : The study was conducted on 30 euthymic bipolar patients and 30 remitted schizophrenic
patients diagnosed as per ICD-10. The patients were rated for on Frankfurt Complaint Questionnaire
(FCQ-24) and Symptoms check list 90 revised (SCL90-R) to assess subjective symptoms. Work and
social adjustment scale, functional status questionnaire and WHO-QOL BREF were administered
one by one on the patient.
Results : Diagnosis of schizophrenia was associated with elevated score on FCQ as compared
to bipolar disorders mainly in the areas of perception, thought, language and motility as well as
total FCQ scores. FCQ scores correlated negatively with scores on functional status questionnaire,
positively with work and social adjustment scale and negatively with all the domains of WHOQOL
BREF except environment/financial resources.
Conclusion : These findings, in conjunction with those from other, methodologically similar studies,
suggest that certain anomalies of subjective experience aggregate significantly in schizophrenia
when compared with bipolar disorders and adversely affected their functioning and quality of life

Keywords : subjective symptoms, euthymic bipolar disorder, remitted schizophrenia