Study on role of life event in major psychoses

Background: The observation that life events has role in major psychoses will have to be corroborated by studies in our country because of the considerable difference in the socio-cultural set up. This study aimed to study how the study group and the control group differ in respect of life event in number, scoring, and type of life event. Material and methods: Patients were diagnosed as per the revised third edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III-R) criteria, and two groups of patients were included?(i) schizophrenia and (ii) mood disorder. The control group consisted of 100 subjects which were taken from general population. The Presumptive Stressful Life Event Scale (PSLES) was taken to assess the life event of subjects. Results: A total number of 100 patients comprising of four distinct categories, i.e. schizophreniform disorder (25), schizophrenia (25), mania (25), and major depression (25) were taken for the study. We found that major life events were more closely related to depression and mania, as against schizophreniform psychoses and schizophrenia. Among the life events, undesirable, exit, and impersonal events were more closely related as compared to other events, and the relation was found to be more significant in depression. Bereavement as a life event needs special mention in case of mood disorders. Conclusion: It opens a new era of investigation as to what needs to be done to the category of mood disorder to protect them from the increased vulnerability to life events.