Depression in schizophrenia: A descriptive study

Objective: To assess the level of depressive symptomatology among a group of patients with schizophrenia, both inpatients and outpatients, and speculate as to the reasons why differences among the groups may be occurring. Method: Fifty inpatients of Baillie Henderson Hospital, a chronic stay psychiatric hospital in Queensland, and 44 outpatients of this hospital were assessed on a number of measures including the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale for Schizophrenia, Abnormal Involuntary Movements Scale, Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression and Beck Depression Inventory. All patients were assessed in a structured interview for 35-40 minutes by the same clinician. A chart review also occurred. The chief outcome variable was a Hamilton Depression Rating Scale of 17 or greater. Results: Clinically significant depression, as defined by a Hamilton Depression score of 17 or greater, was found in 10% (n = 5) of the inpatient sample. Of the outpatient sample, 4.5% (n = 2) showed a clinically significant depression, which was not significantly different to the inpatient group. The prevalence of mild to moderate depression, as defined by a Hamilton Depression score of between 10 and 17, was 42% in the inpatient group and 47.7% in the outpatient group. There was no significant difference between the two groups on the mean Hamilton Depression scores. Conclusions: The results suggest a high level of depressive symptomatology in patients with schizophrenia. As suicide is common in this group, this finding is important. Self-reporting of this problem by patients with schizophrenia, by means of questionnaire, is feasible and provides comparable results to objective clinician ratings.