Schizophrenia and Happiness

Schizophrenia is a serious chronic condition, that arises around adolescence. A
young person, at the beginning of his adult life, willing to take
opportunities, healthy and there is nothing blocking his way to building a
meaningful, happy life.
To be diagnosed with Schizophrenia will turn his world upside down. In addition
to his perception of being healthy being damaged, the disorder also has effects
on cognition and emotion.
Medication, antipsychotics, also effects health: EPS, Metabolic Syndrome, and
possibly also the experience of happiness. Most antipsychotics influence the
dopaminergic system, due to a variable degree of blocking the dopamine system,
with as result more or less anhedonia, also known as the anhedonia hypothesis.
(Wise, 2008)
So far it is unknown how much impact the diagnosis Schizophrenia has on the
experience of happiness.

The aim of this study is to demonstrate the influence of a serious diagnosis
like schizophrenia has happiness in relation to daily activities.

- Patients will be contacted by letter and / or the practitioner
- There are five appointments made, on five different days of the week over a
period of five weeks, using face to fact contact or contact by phone / video
calls.
- During contact, the feeling of happiness, during different activities will
be in queried from previous day.
- The scores will first be completed on paper and later online.
- Data are collected and processed anonymously (a patient number which is
linked on the institution of the personal data to each patient).
- Analysis of the data by Hans Oolders in cooperation with Erasmus University
Rotterdam (EUR)

5 times per 10-15 minutes (telephone) appointment.