Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dsjbd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T08:03:22.198Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Life Events and Schizophrenia

A Saudi Arabian Study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

M. A. F. Al Khani ,
P. E. Bebbington ,
J. P. Watson  and
F. House
M. A. F. Al Khani
Affiliation:
Medical College, King Saud University, PO Box 15102, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
P. E. Bebbington*
Affiliation:
MRC Social Psychiatry Unit, Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF
J. P. Watson
Affiliation:
United Medical Schools (Guy's Campus), London SE1 9RT
F. House
Affiliation:
Department of Pharmacology, United Medical Schools (Guy's Campus), London SE1 9RT
*
Correspondence
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Using an Arabic version of the PSE, supplemented by CATEGO, we selected 48 patients with acute schizophrenia from the population of the Najd region of Saudi Arabia. Their life-event histories for the six months before onset or relapse were compared with those of 62 control subjects. A postive association between events and onset was established only for married women, although there was a parallel trend for men and single women suffering their first schizophrenic episode. The observed impact of life events was limited to the three weeks before onset. These findings are discussed in the light of Saudi culture.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 148 , Issue 1 , January 1986 , pp. 12 - 22
Copyright
Copyright © 1986 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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. (1983) The impact of life events and the onset of schizophrenia within the cultural context of the Najd region of Saudi Arabia. PhD thesis: University of London.Google Scholar
Ashour, A. M., Nassef, A. M., Sadel, A., Bishry, Z. & Lotalf, F. (1979) Life events and schizophrenia: a case-control study. Egyptian Journal of Psychiatry, 2, 219–220.Google Scholar
Bebbington, P. E. (1983) Psychosocial aetiology of schizophrenia and affective disorders In Psychiatry (ed. Michels, R.). Philadelphia: Lippincott.Google Scholar
Bebbington, P. E., Hurry, J., Tennant, C., Sturt, E. & Wing, J. K. (1981) The epidemiology of mental disorders in Camberwell. Psychological Medicine, 11, 561–580.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Birley, J. L. T. & Brown, G. W. (1970) Crises and life changes preceding the onset or relapse of acute schizophrenia: clinical aspects. British Journal of Psychiatry, 116, 327–333.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
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.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brown, G. & Harris, T. O. (1978) Social Origins of Depression. London: Tavistock.Google ScholarPubMed
Day, R. (1981) Life events and schizophrenia: the triggering hypothesis. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 64, 97–122.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hirsch, S. R. & Leff, J. P. (1975) Abnormalities in the Parents of Schizophrenics (Maudsley Monograph No. 22). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Husaini, B. & Neff, J. A. (1980) Social class and depressive symptomatology. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 69, 638–647.Google Scholar
Jacobs, S. & Myers, J. (1976) Recent life events and acute schizophrenic psychosis: a controlled study. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 162, 75–87.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Leff, J. P. (1981) Psychiatry Around the Globe: a Transcultural View. New York: Marcel Dekker.Google Scholar
Leff, J. P., Kuipers, L., Berkowitz, R., Vaughn, C. E. & Sturgeon, D. (1983) Life events, relatives' Expressed Emotion and maintenance neuroleptics in schizophrenic relapse. Psychological Medicine, 13, 799–806.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lloyd, C. (1980) Life events and depressive disorder reviewed. II: Events as precipitating factors. Archives of General Psychiatry, 37, 541–548.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Paykel, E. S. (1982) Life events and early environment In Handbook of Affective Disorders (ed. Paykel, E. S.). Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone.Google Scholar
Rotter, J. B. (1966) Generalised expectancies for internal vs. external control of reinforcement. Psychological Monographs, 80(1).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Surtees, P. G., Dean, C., Ingham, J. G., Kreitman, N. B., Miller, P. Mcc. & Sashidharan, S. P. (1983) Psychiatric disorder in women from an Edinburgh community: associations with demographic factors. British Journal of Psychiatry, 142, 238–246.Google Scholar
Wig, N. N. & Menon, D. K. (1985) Coping with schizophrenic patients in developing countries. Presented at the VIIth World Congress of Psychiatry, Vienna, 11–16 July 1983. New York: Plenum.Google Scholar
Wing, J. K. (1983) Use and misuse of the PSE. British Journal of Psychiatry, 143, 111–117.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wing, J. K., Cooper, J. E. & Sartorius, N. (1974) The Measurement and Classification of Psychiatric Symptoms. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
World Health Organisation (1973) The International Pilot Study of Schizophrenia, Vol. 1. Geneva: WHO.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.