Mental status, functioning, and stress in chronic schizophrenic patients in communicity care.

The author studied the interactions between functioning, stress, and psychological deficit, variables considered essential to the schizophrenic patient's adjustment in the community. The results indicate that comprehensive measurement of functioning and stress correlates significantly with mental status. A breakdown by the components of functioning and stress revealed further areas of interaction between these variables. An important finding was that anxiety contributed maximally to the prediction of stress and depression to that of functioning. These data seem relevant to the schizophrenic patient's degree of social adjustment in the community.