Quality of Life After Electroconvulsive Therapy in Persons with Treatment Resistant Schizophrenia (Report‪)‬

In recent years, health-related quality of life (QOL) has been regarded as the most important dimension of outcome in schizophrenia and other serious mental disorders (1). However, the determinants of quality of life are poorly understood in this population. Studies have relied on combined measures of subjective and objective QOL (2). Indicators of QOL include living situation, marital status, employment status, and involvement in social activities. Although psychiatric symptoms have been associated with subjective measures of QOL, symptom reduction alone often does not result in meaningful improvements in QOL. The results of a meta-analysis suggest that general psychopathology is the strongest contributor to poor QOL (3). Early Identification and treatment of mental disorders generally enhances QOL (4). Improvement in quality of life has become appropriate goal for maintenance pharmacological treatment in schizophrenic patients (5). Atypical antipsychotics have been shown to improve QOL in patients with schizophrenia (6) in comparison with first generation antipsychotics (7).