“Quality of life”: a brand new concept for research and practice in psychiatry “Qualidade de vida”: um novo conceito para a pesquisa e prática em psiquiatria

Quality of life: presentation of the concept In modern medicine the traditional way of assessing change in patients has been to focus on objective clinical or biological tests. While these do offer important information about pathological processes, it is impossible to separate the disease itself from an individual’s personal point of view and social perspective. One way of capturing these particular perspectives is by using quality of life (QOL) measurements. Although the notions of good life and the nature of health have been considered by philosophers, theologians, and scientists for centuries, the concept of ‘quality of life’ is a fairly new atualização