title: [Causal beliefs of schizophrenic patients].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Aim of the study is to investigate whether the preference of schizophrenic patients for psychosocial causal explanations found in a previous study carried out in Hamburg can be observed elsewhere. Further aim of the study was to find out how stable patients' causal attributions are over time. Finally, we were interested to know to what degree patients' beliefs reflect those held by the general public.
  
  
  METHODS
  Using an inventory comprising 15 items, we inquired about 105 schizophrenic patient's aetiological ideas at the time of discharge from hospital from inpatient or daycare treatment at 4 psychiatric hospitals in Germany. Follow-ups were carried out 3 months and 6 months later.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Psychosocial factors, especially psychosocial stress, were most frequently held responsible for the onset of the illness. The possibility that biological factors might play a role in the causation of schizophrenia was considered more rarely by the patients. There were practically no regional variations as concerns aetiological beliefs. The tendency to endorse psychosocial stress factors was more pronounced among patients as compared with the general public. In total the causal beliefs proved to be quite stable over a time period of 6 months.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Patients' causal beliefs are compared with findings of psychiatric research, and possible ways to bridge the gap between the two are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Klinik und Poliklinik für Psychiatrie, Leipzig.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Holzinger
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Löffler
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Müller
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Priebe
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Angermeyer
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000209:etiology*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology
vernacular_title: Vorstellungen schizophrener Patienten über die Ursachen ihrer Erkrankung.