Association between psychopathology and problems of psychosocial functioning in the long-term outcome of patients diagnosed with schizophrenic, schizoaffective and affective disorders

Mental health problems do significantly impact on a person’s functioning. In the past, problems with psychosocial functioning were mainly associated with the diagnoses of schizophrenia. However, nowadays it is clear that impaired psychosocial functioning is also a common phenomenon in people suffering from affective disorders. Only few studies have investigated psychosocial functioning in patients with affective, schizoaffective and schizophrenic disorders in the long-term and in a comparative approach. In the present study, we analysed the association between psychopathology and psychosocial functioning. This question is relevant as symptom remission and sufficient levels of functioning are considered as important indicators of patients’ recovery from their mental health problems. The here reported findings refer to the data of a sample of 177 patients with life-time diagnoses belonging to the schizophrenic, schizoaffective or affective spectrum according to the ICD-10 criteria. Psychopathological, socio-demographic and other illness-related variables were assessed at the index hospitalisation and at the 15-year follow-up evaluation. In the present study, psychopathology is focused on data assessed with the PANSS (Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale). Information about patients’ psychosocial functioning was assessed by using a modified and extended version of the WHO disability assessment scale (WHO-DAS-M). The association between psychosocial functioning and psychopathology was analysed by correlation analyses with the total sample and diagnostic subsamples. The consistency of correlations across the diagnostic groups and domains of psychosocial functioning was calculated. Findings revealed for all diagnostic groups that higher levels of psychopathology were associated with higher levels of problems in psychosocial functioning in various domains. Though there seem to be some differences between psychopathological dimensions and their effects on different aspects of psychosocial functioning, findings across the three diagnostic categories were fairly consistent. The present findings do highlight the importance of symptom remission in achieving social recovery and preventing impairment in psychosocial functioning in all major psychiatric disorders.