Cognitive functioning, mood and anxiety in patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorders

Although research surrounding cognitive (intellectual) and affective (mood and anxiety) functioning among DSM-IV-TR axis I diagnosis is abundant, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are rarely compared. This study examines differences in performance on intellectual and affective measures between schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Additionally, the study explores associations between the severity of each disorder and functioning level. Severity is operationally defined as the presence of psychosis. Two hypotheses are posed: (a) schizophrenic subjects are more impaired in cognitive functioning and bipolar subjects are more impaired in relation to mood and anxiety and (b) severity will influence cognitive functioning, mood, and anxiety. The study was comprised of a review of archival data derived from psychological testing. The sample consisted of 28 schizophrenic and 34 bipolar I and II patients. The average age was 42. Twenty-seven subjects were female and 35 were male. The 62 subjects represented a chronic sample, with nine average hospitalizations. Scores were obtained from the Wechsler Adult Abbreviated Scale-III (WASI-III), the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II), Becky Hopeless Scale (BHS) and Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI). Also, short term, intermediate and long term memory were designated as poor, moderate or good based on queries on a brief mental status examination. In addition, 11 variables were gathered and compared to diagnosis. Results indicate schizophrenics are more cognitively impaired compared to bipolar patients. Results also indicated the experience of psychosis was positively associated with impaired cognitive functioning. Conversely, results did not show greater affect impairment in bipolar patients as compared to the schizophrenics. Additional relationships were found between suicidal ideation and substance abuse with affective scores. No additional relationships were found between intellectual and affective scores and diagnosis. Most demographic variables did not demonstrate an association with either diagnostic group. An overall implication of this study is that schizophrenic patients are more impaired in cognitive functioning compared to bipolar patients. When administering psychological interventions, cognitive functioning, mood, and anxiety are crucial elements of treatment. Results of this study can aid in demonstrating the need to tailor treatment to specific populations, utilizing cognitive and affective strengths and weaknesses.