Page 54 - JCBP-1-2

Journal of Clinical and
Basic Psychosomatics Wisdom in mentally ill and healthy

Table 3. Wisdom capacities and global wisdom score of persons with and without chronic mental health problems
Items of the 12-WD Wisdom scale according to the 12 All With chronic mental Without chronic P-value
wisdom capacities [10] (N=2505) health problem mental health problem in group
(N=331; 13.2%) (N=2174; 86.6%) comparison
(1) Before reacting to a problem, it is important for me to 8.16 (2.05) 7.14 (2.55) 8.31 (1.92) <0.001
understand what the problem is.
(2) What is good or bad depends essentially on the circumstances. 7.70 (2.17) 7.07 (2.31) 7.79 (2.13) <0.001
(3) In my opinion everyone should be happy in their own way. 8.70 (1.72) 8.55 (1.83) 8.72 (1.69) 0.086 (n.s.)
(4) It is interesting for me to look at what others may think 6.73 (2.53) 6.08 (2.69) 6.82 (2.50) <0.001
about a topic.
(5) I always try to empathize with how my counterpart feels. 7.16 (2.27) 6.88 (2.43) 7.20 (2.24) 0.024 (n.s.)
(6) If you are satisfied with what you have, you are better off 8.26 (1.97) 7.73 (2.22) 8.34 (1.92) <0.001
than if you cry over what you do not have.
(7) As far as possible I try not to take myself so important. 7.26 (2.27) 6.81 (2.31) 7.33 (2.26) <0.001
(8) I cannot expect others to like me if I do not behave 7.95 (2.08) 7.44 (2.31) 8.03 (2.03) <0.001
accordingly.
(9) I cannot demand to be always in a good mood. 8.08 (1.92) 8.01 (1.93) 8.09 (1.93) 0.479 (n.s.)
(10) If possible, I try not to get upset, because there is nothing to 7.63 (2.15) 6.78 (2.52) 7.76 (2.06) <0.001
gain by getting myself upset.
(11) I am one of those people who say that things happen as 7.02 (2.54) 6.16 (2.75) 7.15 (2.48) <0.001
they happen.
(12) I always see crises also as an opportunity for the future. 6.64 (2.57) 5.38 (2.74) 6.83 (2.49) <0.001
Global wisdom score (mean score of all 12 items) 7.60 (1.40) 7.00 (1.41) 7.70 (1.38) <0.001
Note: Data are expressed as means (standard deviation), and group comparison statistics are reported (t-test, N=2505). n.s.: Not significant.

Figure 1. High, moderate, or low wisdom capacities in persons with (M) and without (W) chronic mental health problems (N = 2505).

4. Discussion capacities between persons with and without chronic
mental health problems. People with chronic mental
4.1. Wisdom capacities in persons with and without health problems had a lower global wisdom score. In
chronic mental health problems particular, the wisdom capacities which require self-
The analysis of the representative data revealed the distancing and accepting perspectives of other people or
differences in the degree of self-reported wisdom uncertain future events seem to score lower in persons

Volume 1 Issue 2 (2023) 6 https://doi.org/10.36922/jcbp.0945