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The moderating effect of mindfulness on self-defeatist beliefs and negative symptoms in a population of chronic schizophrenia patients in Taiwan

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Abstract

This study investigated mindfulness in relation to self-defeatist beliefs and negative symptoms, with the hypothesis that mindfulness has a moderating effect. Three hundred and thirty-one patients with schizophrenia were recruited from a public mental health hospital. All were interviewed by experienced research assistants and completed self-report questionnaires after giving informed consent. Self-defeatist beliefs, negative symptoms, and mindfulness were measured, and descriptive analyses and hierarchical regression analysis were conducted. Our results demonstrated that self-defeatist beliefs were highly related to avolition, affective flattening, and apathy of negative symptoms related to diminished experience, while no significant relationships were found between self-defeatist beliefs, alogia, and attentional impairment. We also confirmed the effect of mindfulness on negative symptoms, but unexpectedly, the moderating effect of mindfulness could not be supported in the present study. Emotional regulation and dysfunctional beliefs could be important for the development of negative symptoms. The effect of social cognitive deficits on self-defeatist beliefs, mindfulness, and negative symptoms, as well as the differential effects of mindfulness-based interventions and cognitive behavioral therapy on negative symptoms, should be investigated further in the future.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Educational Psychology and Counseling, National Tsing Hua University, 521 Nan-Da Road, Hsinchu City, 30014, Taiwan

    Kun-Hua Lee

  2. Department of General Psychiatry, Yuli Hospital, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Hualien County, Taiwan

    Chuan-Hsun Yu

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  1. Kun-Hua Lee
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  2. Chuan-Hsun Yu
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Correspondence to Kun-Hua Lee.

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Ethics Approval

This study was approved by Yuli Hospital Institute Review Board (no. YLH-IRB-10717).

Conflict of Interest

Kun-Hua Lee and Chun-Shuan Yu have no conflicts of interest related to this study.

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Lee, KH., Yu, CH. The moderating effect of mindfulness on self-defeatist beliefs and negative symptoms in a population of chronic schizophrenia patients in Taiwan. Curr Psychol 42, 10945–10950 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-021-02392-1

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