Self-stigma and adherence to medication in patients with psychotic disorders--cross-sectional study

Adherence to treatment of mental disorders is one of the key factors influencing its success and, secondarily, the patients' quality of life and social adaptation. The cross-sectional study of 90 outpatients diagnosed with psychotic disorders aimed at determining if there was a relationship between discontinuation of psychoactive drugs in the past, current adherence to treatment and self-stigma. The assessment was made with the objective and subjective Clinical Global Impression - Severity scale, Drug Attitude Inventory, Internalized Stigma of Mental Illness (ISMI) scale and demographic data. The questionnaires were filled out by 79 patients, of whom 5 handed in incomplete questionnaires. Complete sets of data were obtained from 74 patients. The data analysis showed that the levels of self-stigma as assessed by the total ISMI scores was not statistically significantly correlated with most of the demographic factors (age, age of illness onset, gender, education, marital status, employment, duration of the illness, number of hospitalizations and antipsychotic dosage). However, there was a significant negative correlation with current adherence to treatment.