Features of schizophrenic patients and patients with depression as observed by family members--symptoms, social activities and social performance.

We carried out a comparative study of a group of schizophrenic patients and a group of patients with depression, looking at 1) symptoms and social behaviors, 2) the performance level of socially expected activities and free-time activities, and 3) the level of expectations of family members with respect to patients' activities according to the results of a KAS evaluation by the family members of the two groups. The evaluation of symptoms and social behaviors by the family members clearly reflected the clinical features of schizophrenia and depression. In respect to the performance level of socially expected activities, depressive patients were evaluated significantly higher than schizophrenic patients. As for free-time activities, there were no differences between the two groups in the evaluation of levels of performance, but the family members of the depressive group expected a significantly higher level of free-time activities than was achieved, while such a significant discrepancy between expectation and performance was not observed for the schizophrenic group.