COMPARISON OF THE QUALITY OF LIFE IN PATIENTS WITH MAJOR DEPRESSION AND SCHIZOPHRENIA IN THE PARTIAL RECOVERY PHASE

Background & Aims: Schizophrenia and major depression are among severe and chronic psychiatric disorders that affect the most important area of a person's life, namely quality of life. Quality of life is very important in patients with chronic psychiatric disorders and is still low even after partial recovery. Today, quality of life is considered as one of the most important consequences of treatment of diseases, because quality of life is an important criterion for determining the effects of disease and its treatment on the individual and can be a useful guide to improve the quality of care. Hence quality of life assessment is important in patient care and clinical research. The purpose of this study is to compare the quality of life between patients with major depression and schizophrenia.  Materials & Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed in Razi Psychiatric Educational and Medical Center in Urmia in 2021. A total of 100 patients with major depression and schizophrenia were selected by convenience sampling method. The MC GILL questionnaire was used to assess the quality of life of patients with major depression and the SQLS Wilkesen questionnaire was used to assess the quality of life of patients with schizophrenia. Data were analyzed using t-test and Pearson correlation coefficient. Results: The mean age of the patients with depression was 34.28 ±7.257 and the mean age of the patients with schizophrenia was 36.80 ±9.225. The mean quality of life in patients with major depression was 45.62 ±14.75 ehile was73.56 ± 10.369 in the patients with schizophrenia. Comparison of the overall quality of life in patients with major depression and schizophrenia showed that the quality of life of patients with schizophrenia is in a more unfavorable situation (p<0.05). In general, it can be acknowledged that the quality of life in patients with psychiatric disorders can vary according to the type, severity of the disease, gender, age, and social support. Conclusion: Major depressive disorder and schizophrenia affect major aspects of patients' quality of life. The impact of these two diseases on the quality of life of patients is different; as the quality of life of patients with schizophrenia are more affected by the disease than patients with major depression. Paying attention to the quality of life of these patients can be an important factor in the relative recovery of these patients.