Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-17T19:17:13.387Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Life Events and Schizophrenia in Nigerians

A Controlled Investigation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Oye Gureje  and
A. Adewunmi
Oye Gureje*
Affiliation:
Aro Neuropsychiatry Hospital and WHO Collaborating Centre for Research and Training in Mental Health, Nigeria
A. Adewunmi
Affiliation:
Aro Neuropsychiatry Hospital and WHO Collaborating Centre for Research and Training in Mental Health, Nigeria
*
∗Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital of South Manchester, Withington, Manchester M20 8LR
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Forty-two first-episode RDC schizophrenic patients were matched on sociodemographic variables with an equal number of control subjects. The life-event histories of both groups for 6 months before onset or interview were compared. Onset of illness was not preceded by an increase in life events. The only significant observation was that control subjects had experienced more events in the month previous to interview. These were reported mainly by male control subjects, involved the family, and were possibly related to the period when the control subjects were interviewed. The observations are discussed within the context of the Nigerian culture.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 153 , Issue 3 , September 1988 , pp. 367 - 375
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1988 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Al Khani, M. A. F., Bebbington, P. E., Watson, J. P. & House, F. (1986) Life events and schizophrenia: a Saudi Arabian study. British Journal of Psychiatry, 148, 12–22.Google Scholar
American Psychiatric Association (1980) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd edn) (DSM-III). Washington, DC: APA.Google Scholar
Beck, J. C. & Worthen, K. (1972) Precipitating stress, crisis theory, and hospitalisation in schizophrenia and depression. Archives of General Psychiatry, 26, 123–129.Google Scholar
Brockington, I. F., Winokur, G. & Dean, C. (1982) Puerperal psychoses. In Motherhood and Mental Illness (eds Brockington, I. F. & Kumar, R.). London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Brown, G. W. & Birley, J. L. T. (1968) Crises and life changes and the onset of schizophrenia. Journal of Health and Social Behaviour, 9, 203–214.Google Scholar
Brown, G. W. & Harris, O. T. (1978) Social Origins of Depression. London: Tavistock.Google Scholar
Brown, G. W., Skair, F., Harris, T. & Birley, J. (1973) Life events and psychiatric disorders. I: some methodological issues. Psychological Medicine, 3, 74–87.Google Scholar
Chung, R. K., Langeluddecke, P. & Tennant, C. (1986) Threatening life events in the onset of schizophrenia, schizophreniform psychosis and hypomania. British Journal of Psychiatry, 148, 680–685.Google Scholar
Cox, J. L. (1983) Postnatal depression: a comparison of African and Scottish women. Social Psychiatry, 18, 25–28.Google Scholar
Day, R., Neilsen, J. A., Korten, A., Ernberg, G., Dube, K. C., Gebhart, J., Jablensky, A., Leon, C., Marsella, A., Glatawura, M., Sartorius, N., Stromgren, E., Takahashi, R., Wig, N. & Wynne, L. C. (1988) Stressful life events preceding the acute onset of schizophrenia: a cross-national study from the World Health Organization. Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry (in press).Google Scholar
Dohrenwend, B. P. & Egri, G. (1981) Recent stressful life events and episode of schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 7, 12–23.Google Scholar
German, G. A. (1972) Aspects of clinical psychiatry in sub-Saharan Africa. British Journal of Psychiatry, 121, 461–479.Google Scholar
Goldberg, D. P., Cooper, B., Eastwood, M. R., Kelward, H. B. & Shepherd, M. (1970) A standardised psychiatric interview for use in community studies. British Journal of Preventive and Social Medicine, 24, 18–23.Google Scholar
Gureje, O. (1986a) Social factors and depression in Nigerian women. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 74, 392–395.Google Scholar
Gureje, O. (1986b) Screening for organic brain syndromes in Nigerians. East African Medical Journal, 63, 447–451.Google Scholar
Gureje, O. & Bamgboye, E. A. (1987) A study of Schneider's first rank symptoms of schizophrenia in Nigerian patients. British Journal of Psychiatry, 150, 867–869.Google Scholar
Hollingshead, A. & Redlich, R. F. (1958) Social Class and Mental Illness. A Community Study. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Jacobs, S. & Myers, J. (1976) Recent life events and acute schizophrenia psychosis: a controlled study. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 162, 75–87.Google Scholar
Jacobs, S., Prusoff, B. A. A. Paykel, E. S. (1974) Recent life events in schizophrenia and depression. Psychological Medicine, 4, 444–453.Google Scholar
Jenkins, C. D., Hurst, M. & Rose, R. (1979) Life changes: do people really remember? Archives of General Psychiatry, 36, 379–384.Google Scholar
Leff, J. P., Kuipers, L., Berkowitz, R., Vaughn, C. & Sturgeon, D. (1983) Life events, relatives' expressed emotion and maintenance neuroleptics in schizophrenic relapse. Psychological Medicine, 13, 799–806.Google Scholar
Minde, K. K. (1975) Psychological problems in Ugandan school children: a controlled evaluation. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 16, 49–59.Google Scholar
Odejide, A. O. (1980) A Nigerian psychiatric outpatient clinic: a point prevalence study. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 41, 130–133.Google Scholar
Orley, J. & Wing, J. K. (1979) Psychiatric disorders in two African villages. Archives of General Psychiatry, 36, 513–520.Google Scholar
Paykel, E. S. (1982) Life events and early environment. In Handbook of Affective Disorders (ed. Paykel, E. S.). Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone.Google Scholar
Paykel, E. S., Myers, J. K., Dienelt, M. N., Klerman, G. L., Lindenthal, J. J. & Pepper, M. P. (1969) Life events and depression: a controlled study. Archives of General Psychiatry, 21, 753–760.Google Scholar
Sartorius, N., Jablensky, A. & Shapiro, R. (1978) Cross-cultural differences in the short-term prognosis of schizophrenic psychoses. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 4, 102–113.Google Scholar
Sartorius, N., Jablensky, A. Korten, A., Ernberg, G., Anker, M., Cooper, J. E. & Day, R. (1986) Early manifestations and first-contact incidence of schizophrenia in different cultures. Psychological Medicine, 16, 909–928.Google Scholar
Schless, A. P. & Mendels, J. (1978) The value of interviewing family and friends in assessing life stressors. Archives of General Psychiatry, 35, 565–567.Google Scholar
Spitzer, R., Endicott, J. & Robbins, E. (1975) Research Diagnostic Criteria. New York: New York State Psychiatric Institute.Google Scholar
Tennant, C., Bebbington, P. & Hurry, J. (1981) The role of life events in depressive illness: is there a substantial causal role? Psychological Medicine, 11, 379–389.Google Scholar
Uhlenhuth, E. H., Balter, M. & Lipman, R. (1977) Remembering life events. In The Origins and Course of Psychopathology (eds Strauss, J., Babigian, H. & Roff, M.), pp. 117–132. New York: Plenum Press.Google Scholar
Vadher, A. & Ndetei, D. M. (1981) Life events and depression in a Kenyan setting. British Journal of Psychiatry, 139, 134–137.Google Scholar
Wing, J. K., Cooper, J. E. & Sartorius, N. (1974) The Measurement and Classification of Psychiatric Symptoms. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.