ABSTRACT

Shame is associated with various mental health and social difficulties. A broad range of social factors increase the risk of shame among individuals. One group that experiences increased shame due to their mental health diagnoses and criminal justice involvement is forensic patients. The purpose of this pilot study was to compare shame levels in forensic and non-forensic patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia or other psychotic disorder, and to examine whether any social determinants of health impacted the levels of shame among both groups. A self-report shame questionnaire and a measure of experiences with various social determinants of health were completed by 43 patients with schizophrenia or other psychotic disorder (22 forensic and 21 non-forensic patients). Statistical analyses revealed no significant differences in levels of shame between the forensic and non-forensic patients. Early life experience as well as employment and working conditions had the most significant impact on shame levels for both forensic and non-forensic patients. We also found a significant difference between forensic and non-forensic scores in employment and working conditions (p = .046), with forensic patients rating their experiences with this factor as more positive than non-forensic participants. Clinical implications are discussed.

摘要

羞耻与各种心理健康和社交困难有关。广泛的社会因素增加了个人之间羞耻的风险。由于心理健康诊断和刑事司法参与而感到羞耻感增加的一组是法医患者。这项初步研究的目的是比较被诊断为精神分裂症或其他精神病的法医和非法医患者的羞耻感水平，并检查是否有任何健康的社会决定因素影响两组的羞耻感。43 名精神分裂症或其他精神病患者（22 名法医患者和 21 名非法医患者）完成了自我报告的羞耻问卷和各种健康社会决定因素的经验测量。统计分析显示法医和非法医患者之间的羞耻程度没有显着差异。早年生活经历以及就业和工作条件对法医和非法医患者的羞耻感水平影响最大。我们还发现在就业和工作条件方面的法医和非法医分数之间存在显着差异（p = .046)，与非法医参与者相比，法医患者认为他们在该因素方面的经历更为积极。讨论了临床意义。