Emotional Intelligence and Psychopathology in Schizophrenia

Deficits in social cognition, emotion perception and thinking have been extensively documented in schizophrenia either during the course or even in prodromal phase and are associated with poor psychosocial functioning. The present study aimed to explore the associations among emotional intelligence and positive and negative syndromes in the patients with schizophrenia. A sample of 30 male patients with schizophrenia within age range of 18-45 years was taken. Patients were selected by purposive sampling on the basis of inclusion and exclusion criteria from the inpatient department of a psychiatry Institute. PANSS and MSREIS-R were administered on the patients to assess positive, negative symptoms and general symptoms and different components of emotional intelligence respectively. The results revealed that two components of emotional intelligence (a) ability to manage emotions in others (b) total score of MSREIS-R were significantly associated with negative and general symptoms.