Occupational functioning in relation to psychiatric diagnoses: Schizophrenia and mood disorders

The purposeof the study was to investigate whether a patient's adaptive occupational functioning is related to diagnoses of schizophrenia or mood disorders. The Occupational Case Analysis Interview and Rating Scale (OCAIRS) was used to examine the patient's adaptation in everyday occupation. Three groups of patients were studied: patients with schizophrenia (n=18), major depression (n=20), and bipolar disorders (n=22). The adaptive occupational functioning of patients with schizophrenia and those with bipolar disorders was significantly reduced, to the same levels as that of patients with major depression. Thus, a patient's adaptive occupational functioning seems to be related to the studied psychiatric diagnoses. This observation may be used as a first step when screen patients for occupational therapy.