The aims of this study were to examine whether different domains of quality of life (QOL) are differently affected by depressive disorders by comparing QOL of subjects with and without depressive disorders, and to examine the association of QOL with self-stigma, insight and adverse effects of medication among subjects with depressive disorders.

The QOL on the four domains of the WHOQOL-BREF Taiwan version were compared between the 229 subjects with depressive disorders and 106 control subjects without depressive disorder. Among the subjects in the depressive group, the association between the four QOL domains and subjects' self-stigma, insight, and adverse effects of medication were examined using multiple regression analyses by controlling for the influence of depression, socio-demographic and clinical characteristics and family function.

The results found that subjects with depressive disorders had poorer QOL on the physical, psychological and social relationship domains than the non-depressive control group. The depressive subjects who had more severe self-stigma had poorer QOL on all four domains. The depressive subjects who had higher levels of awareness of illness had poorer QOL on the physical and psychological domains. The depressive subjects who perceived more severe adverse effects from medication had poorer QOL on the physical, psychological and environmental domains.

The results of this study demonstrate that different domains of QOL are differently affected by depressive disorders, and that clinicians must consider the negative influences of self-stigma, insight and adverse effects from medication on QOL of subjects with depressive disorders.