RESUMO
There is a high prevalence of psychotic-like experiences in nonclinical patient cohorts from Brazil. This study aimed to test whether personality dimensions, as well as schizotypy, are important predictors of quality of life (QoL) in individuals with psychotic experiences (PE). METHOD: 115 participants were recruited from Spiritist Centers in Brazil. At the 1-year follow up, 90 participants (78%) were reassessed. Instruments were the SCID-I (Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV), TCI-R 140 (Revised Temperament and Character Inventory), OLIFE-R (Oxford-Liverpool Inventory of Feelings and Experiences), and WHOQOL-BREF (World Health Organization QoL Instrument). RESULTS: Mean age (±SD) was 36.8 (±12.5) years; 70% were female. Participants reported 74.4% of PE at time 1 and 72.3% at time 2. At time 1, temperament and character explained 47% of the psychological QoL variance; self-directedness was the strongest predictor of higher QoL, while harm avoidance and introverted anhedonia predicted worse QoL. At the 1-year follow-up, self-directedness remained the most important predictor of psychological QoL. CONCLUSION: Individuals reporting PE can show psychological QoL when they are high on self-directedness. Those with high levels of introverted anhedonia and cognitive disorganization can have a lower QoL and may be at risk for mental health problems.
Assuntos
Transtornos da Personalidade/psicologia , Transtornos Psicóticos/psicologia , Qualidade de Vida/psicologia , Adulto , Estudos de Coortes , Feminino , Seguimentos , Humanos , Masculino , Inventário de Personalidade , Estudos Prospectivos , Fatores de TempoRESUMO
Several variables have been identified as risk factors for conversion to overt psychosis in ultra-high risk for psychosis (UHR) individuals. Although almost two-thirds of them do not experience a transition to psychosis, they still exhibit functional disabilities. Other subjective developmental features may be useful for a more precise identification of individuals at UHR. Avoidant behaviors are consistently reported in schizophrenia and in UHR individuals and may be the reflection of a pattern of personality. Thus, personality features in UHR individuals deserves further research. The objective of the present study was to compare temperament and character dimensions between UHR individuals, patients with schizophrenia and healthy controls. One hundred participants (25 UHR individuals, 25 schizophrenia patients and 50 control subjects) where evaluated with the Temperament and Character Inventory-Revised (TCI-R). Univariate ANOVAs followed by Bonferroni tests were used. UHR individuals and schizophrenia patients exhibited higher levels of Harm Avoidance (HA) when compared to control subjects. For HA1 Anticipatory worry vs Uninhibited optimism and HA4 Fatigability & asthenia, UHR and schizophrenia groups showed similar scores and both groups were higher compared to control subjects. With respect to Cooperativeness (CO), UHR and schizophrenia reported lower scores than control subjects, in particular CO2 Empathy vs Social disinterest and CO3 Helpfulness vs unhelpfulness. This study replicates and extends the consideration of HA as a psychopathological related endophenotype and gives us further information of the possible role of personality features in the expression of some of the social dysfunctions observed both in prodromal subjects and schizophrenia patients.