Inverse correlations between symptom scores and spiritual well-being among African American patients with first-episode schizophrenia spectrum disorders

Spirituality, religiosity, and spiritual/religious wellbeing are relatively understudied in the context of severe mental illnesses. Nonetheless, individuals dealing with such disorders, including schizophrenia, often make use of spirituality and religious affiliation as coping resources. In this preliminary study, we examined correlations between psychopathology severity and spiritual well-being among first-episode schizophrenia-spectrum disorder patients. The sample consisted of 18 African American patients hospitalized on an inpatient psychiatric unit in a large, urban, public hospital. After confirmation of diagnosis with the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Disorders, symptom severity was rated with the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale, and self-reported spiritual well-being was evaluated with the Spiritual Well-Being Scale. Spearman correlations revealed that negative symptom scores were inversely correlated with religious well-being scores (p = -.614; p = 0.007), and that general psychopathology symptom scores were inversely correlated with existential well-being scores (p = -.539; p = 0.021). These preliminary findings indicate that negative symptoms and general psychopathology symptoms may have a detrimental effect on religious and existential well-being in patients with a first episode of a schizophrenia- spectrum disorder, or that religious and existential well-being may have an effect on symptomatology.