Identity in schizophrenia: a study of trait self-knowledge

Abstract

Identity results from interlock of two systems which are a set of abstracted representations about oneself and a phenomenological self. Literature highlights identity disturbance in schizophrenia that affects each of both systems. In the same vein, the present study investigates the stability and the quality of traits self-knowledge, a component of abstracted representations of self, in schizophrenia patients. Sixty-eight patients with schizophrenia and 68 healthy control subjects completed a short version of a personality scale (LABEL). This scale is composed of two versions (A and B), each comprising 50 adjectives that correspond to synonymous adjectives in the alternate list. Participants indicated how these adjectives described themselves and completed both versions of the scale on two separate occasions, one month apart. The findings showed that schizophrenic patients presented an unstable identity and change in identity quality compared with healthy subjects. However, this identity disturbance was weaker than expected. These results are discussed in a part of autobiographical memory disturbances in schizophrenia, illness duration and the decompensation stage.

Keywords: Identity; Psychopathology; Schizophrenia; Self; Self-images; Stability.