Evaluation of Positive and Negative Symptoms and Perception of Time in Patients with Chronic Schizophrenia

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the positive and negative symptoms and the perception of time in patients with chronic schizophrenia in Isar psychiatric hospital and rehabilitation centers of Ardabil in 2014. The research design was descriptive and correlational. Therefore, 100 patients were selected through convenience sampling method. Positive and Negative Symptom Scale and Time Perception Scale have been applied for data collection. Data analysis was achieved through Pearson correlation coefficient and multiple regression analysis and results showed that there was no significant correlation between positive symptoms and agitation whit perception of time in patients with schizophrenia (p>0.05). In other words, positive symptoms and agitation do not affect the perception of time in these patients. But, there was a significant correlation between negative symptoms and disorganization with perception of time (p>0.05). Thus, with increasing of severity of negative symptoms and disorganization, the perception of time was reduced. Also, there was no negative significant correlation between anxiety and depression with visual stimuli, but there was no significant relationship between these components and auditory stimuli (p>0.05). In the other words, with increasing levels of anxiety and depression the perception of time was reduced (estimated time to visual stimuli). But increased rates of anxiety and depression have no effect on the perception of time (estimated auditory stimuli). The positive and negative symptoms have the ability to predict visual stimuli and auditory stimuli in 25% and 16%, respectively. As a result, in patients with schizophrenia according to the positive and negative symptoms the response time to the audio and visual stimulus is different.