Subjective experience in schizophrenia: factors influencing self-esteem, satisfaction with life, and subjective distress.

The relative and combined effects of individual characteristics, severity of illness, psychosocial functioning, treatment intensity, and milieu variables on self-esteem, distress and satisfaction with life were examined in a study of 103 subjects diagnosed with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder, all of whom had been in either high-intensity or low-intensity community-based interventions for at least six months. Implications of the findings for treatment and for research on subjective experience in schizophrenia are discussed.