Presence of Depression in Patients with Schizophrenia

Abstract

The study is conducted to evaluate the presence and prevalence of depression (minimal, mild, moderate, moderately severe and severe), depressive symptoms and their severity in patients clinically diagnosed with Schizophrenia using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 developed in 2001 to screen adult patients in primary care settings. The 9-item questionnaire was developed by Robert L. Spitzer, Janet B.W. Williams, and Kurt Kroenke in 1999. The PHQ-9 is a shorter version of the 59-item tool PHQ that assesses 12 mental and emotional health disorders of mood, anxiety, eating, and somatoform disorders. The study was conducted on 30 patients taken as samples. The samples taken were Indian patients (both male & female) in IPD of SMS Psychiatry Centre, Jaipur diagnosed with schizophrenia. The results found out that there is “moderate depression” on an average in patients diagnosed with Schizophrenia.