The illness and everyday living: close interplay of psychopathological syndromes and psychosocial functioning in chronic schizophrenia

The interaction of psychopathological states and psychosocial functioning determine the long-term course of schizophrenia and its treatment. To be able to achieve this interplay better, exact assessment of psychosocial functioning is needed besides measurement of psychopathology. Using the Personal and Social Performance (PSP) Scale, examination of the association between psychosocial functioning and psychopathology was conducted in a sample of 103 patients with chronic schizophrenia. Rating instruments were in addition Global Assessment of Functioning Scale and Social and Occupational Functioning Assessment Scale, as well as Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), Clinical Global Impression Scale, and Mini-ICF-APP-Rating for Mental Disorders (Mini-ICF-APP). Besides good psychometric properties for the PSP scale in this chronic sample, we found, as expected, significant associations between the two relevant outcome domains: results showed significant negative correlations between PSP and PANSS. Findings prove the close interplay between social functioning and psychopathology in the chronic course of schizophrenia.