Schizophrenia and reactions towards the deaths of fellow patients in a psychiatric in-patient unit. Some psychological considerations

Abstract

Knudson, H.V. (2004). Schizophrenia and reactions towards the deaths of fellow patients in a psychiatric in-patient unit. Nordisk Psykologi, 56, 3, xxx-xxx.

During a period of eight months, five long-term hospitalized patients with a schizophrenia diagnosis died unexpectedly in a ward for chronically ill psychiatric patients. This naturalistic experiment turned out to be a unique opportunity to observe the reactions of the other long-term patients towards these deaths. Two main patterns of responses could be observed: one group, having other diagnoses than schizophrenia or schizophrenia-related illnesses, showed normal reactions along the lines that one would expect within the range of a normal, non-patient population. The other group, consisting exclusively of patients with a chronic schizophrenic illness, could be divided into a sub-group not showing any obvious reactions at all on the one hand and, on the other hand, another sub-group consisting of four patients showing normal emotional reactions towards the deaths of their fellow patients. This second sub-group disclosed manifestations such as sorrow, grief, emotional turmoil and, to some degree, verbalized anxiety. About one and a half years previous to the first death three of these four patients engaged into long-term individually tailored psychotherapy based on psychodynamic theoretical principles. My main conclusion is that individual psychotherapy offered to long-term hospitalized chronically ill schizophrenic patients over a long length of time seems to be the main opportunity for them to be able to step back into the relational world of their fellow human beings, and to gain access to an adequately expressed and shared emotionality.