Time perspective and self-stigma in schizophrenia

Abstract

Background

Time perspective (TP) offers a new understanding of human personality, postulating that there are individual differences in how our mind assigns our experiences to different time categories. This concept may shed new light on the role of personality traits in shaping vulnerability to the internalized stigma.

Aim

In this paper we propose a novel approach to clarifying the underpinning of self-stigma by empirically exploring its links with TP.

Method

We conducted a cross-sectional study among 86 patients with ICD-10 diagnoses of paranoid schizophrenia to validate the predictive role of TP for self-stigma. We used the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory (ZTPI), Internalized Stigma of Mental Illness scale (ISMI) and Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS).

Results

We found significant positive correlations of self-stigma with Past-Negative, Future-Negative and Present-Fatalistic TP categories and negative correlation with the Future-Positive category. The hierarchical regression analyses revealed that two TP categories and Deviation from the Balanced Time Perspective (DBTP) are significant predictors of self-stigma over and above sociodemographic and clinical control variables. Conclusion. The results of the study confirm the hypothesis that TP opens new possibilities to understand proneness or resistance to self-stigmatization, and this may provide a basis for novel approaches to anti-self-stigma interventions.

Keywords:

• Future-Negative
• Past-Negative
• psychosis
• schizophrenia
• self-stigma
• time perspective

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

Rafał Styła used the financial support from the statutory funds of the Faculty of Psychology, University of Warsaw [source of funding no 501-D125-01-1250000 zlec. 5011000227] to work on this article.