Worrying in people with schizophrenia

Abstract

Introduction: Worrying is a cognitive process observed both in healthy people and those who suffer from mental disorders. The analyses of its relevance to coping with difficult situations can be found in the literature but there is little information on its significance and extent in the lives of people who suffer from schizophrenia. Purpose: The aim of the study was to define the prevalence of worrying and its relationship to the social functioning of people suffering from schizophrenia, compared to the worrying experienced by healthy subjects. Methods: The study involved 37 patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia (ICD-10), currently hospitalized in rehabilitation day wards, and 38 healthy subjects. The following research tools were used: the Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ), the Social Functioning Questionnaire, and the Global Assessment of Functioning and Socio-demographic Background Questionnaire. The control group comprised healthy subjects matched for age and sex with the clinical group of patients with schizophrenia. Results: The degree of worrying exhibited by people with schizophrenia differed from that obtained in the analysis of healthy subjects. The difference occurred at the level of statistical tendency. The worrying experienced by people in the clinical group was related to various areas of functioning: social functioning, communication, building interpersonal relationships or effective ways of spending leisure time. Conclusions: Our results show a statistical tendency towards people with schizophrenia worrying more often than people in the control group. A significant and negative covariance was noted in the clinical group between the tendency to worry, communication skills and building interpersonal relationships as well as effective leisure time management. StreszczenieWstęp: Martwienie się jest procesem poznawczym obserwowanym zarówno u osób zdrowych, jak u osób z zaburzeniami psychicznymi. W literaturze przedmiotu podkreśla się jego znaczenie w procesie radzenia sobie z sytuacjami trudnymi. Niewiele jest informacji o znaczeniu i rozmiarze tego zjawiska w życiu osób chorych na schizofrenię. Cel: Celem badania była próba określenia rozmiaru zjawiska martwienia się i jego związków z funkcjonowaniem społecznym osób chorych na schizofrenię, w porównaniu z martwieniem się osób zdrowych. Metody: W badaniu wzięło udział 37 pacjentów, aktualnie hospitalizowanych w oddziałach dziennych rehabilitacyjnych, z rozpoznaną schizofrenią (ICD-10) oraz 38 osób zdrowych. Zastosowano następujące narzędzia badawcze: Kwestionariusz Oceny Martwienia się (Penn State Worry Questionnaire -PSWQ), Skalę Funkcjonowania Społecznego (Global Assessment of Functioning -GAF), Kwestionariusz Danych Społeczno-Demograficznych. Osoby zdrowe stanowiły grupę kontrolną, zbliżoną wiekiem oraz podziałem ze względu na płeć do składu grupy klinicznej -chorych na schizofrenię. Wyniki: Wyniki osób chorych na schizofrenię różnią się od wyników osób zdrowych pod względem poziomu martwienia się i różnica ta występuje na poziomie tenden...

Sexual Well-Being in Individuals with Schizophrenia: A Pilot Study on the Role of Self-Esteem and Acceptance of Illness

“…Additionally, women tend to worry more than men [53]. In turn, greater worry among individuals with schizophrenia spectrum disorders is associated with worse social functioning [54].…”

Worry and stress coping strategies among youth: the mediating role of psychological resilience

“…The novelty of this study here lies, first and foremost, in the fact that it explores the worry phenomenon, which is a rarely examined in Poland, just a handful of studies address worry in adults (cf. Gierus et al, 2018;Golędzinowska et al, 2018;Janowski, 2011;Janowski et al, 2009;Solarz & Janowski, 2013), and even fever deal with worry in children and youth, only four articles to date (Olszewski et al, 2016;Talik, 2022;Zalewska, 2021). Apart from the specific nature of the examined group, the novelty of our research also lies the research problem set -so far, the relationship between worry and stress coping has not been analysed with psychological resilience as a mediator -hence the exploratory character of the presented research; therefore, answers were sought to these two research questions:…”