Assessing Social Cognition In Schizophrenia

BackgroundDeficits in social cognition have been extensively documented in schizophrenia and are associated with poor psychosocial functioning. However, little is known about other aspects of social cognition that are critical for adaptive functioning. The current study assessed schizophrenia patients'performance on a theoretically-based, well validated, multidimensional measure of emotional intelligence, the social cognition scale.Methods60 schizophrenia outpatients and 42 normal controls completed the social cognition scale, a performance measure comprised of subtests that assess three components (branches) of social cognition:psychotic experience, core experience of the social cognition function,and non-psychotic experience. patients, associations between social cognition scores and measures of clinical symptoms as well as functional outcome were evaluated.ResultsThe social cognition scale demonstrated good psychometric properties in both groups. Schizophrenia patients performed worse than controls on the total social cognition scale score, and on all of three subtests:psychotic experience, core experience of the social cognition function, and non-psychotic experience. Among patients, lower social cognition scale scores significantly correlated with higher negative and disorganized symptoms, as well as worse community functioning.ConclusionsThe social cognition scale is a useful tool for investigating social cognition in schizophrenia. Individuals with schizophrenia demonstrate deficits across multiple domains of social cognition. These deficits have significant links with clinical symptoms of schizophrenia and with how patients function in their daily lives. Further research is required to understand the links between social cognition, clinical symptoms, and functional outcome in schizophrenia.