Interrelationship of critical thinking ability and self-stigma in patients with paranoid schizophrenia

The article presents the results of the study of characteristics of the relationship between the internalized stigma (self-stigma) and disease awareness in patients with paranoid schizophrenia in remission. The possibility of using internalized stigma as a marker of the critical thinking ability of patients is considered. This takes into account the type of social and labor adjustment. Objective: To study the relationship between self-stigma and critical abilities of patients with paranoid schizophrenia in various types of social and labor adjustment. Study Material. 102 patients with a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia in remission. Methods: clinical, psychopathological, psychometric (SUMD, “SS Measure" software) and statistical. Results. A statistically significant strong correlation was found between the self-stigma and average score for recognition of disease symptoms only in a subgroup of patients with an integrative type of social and labor adjustment. Conclusion. The internalized stigma reflects the level of critical thinking ability only in patients with the integrative type of social and labor adaptation. In other cases, stigma largely depends on the clinical manifestations of the disease. It is necessary to continue research in the sample with a larger number of patients.