An open clinical trial assessing a novel training program for social cognitive impairment in schizophrenia

作者：Marsh Pamela^*; Langdon Robyn; McGuire Jonathan; Harris Anthony; Polito Vince; Coltheart Max

来源：Australasian Psychiatry, 2013, 21(2): 122-126.

DOI：10.1177/1039856213475683

• attributional bias
• emotion recognition
• mental-state reasoning
• remediation
• schizophrenia
• socialisation
• social cognitive impairment
• Theory of Mind
• training program

Objective: Social cognition is profoundly impaired in patients with schizophrenia. This study describes %26apos;Mental-State Reasoning Training for Social Cognitive Impairment%26apos; (SoCog-MSRT), a 5-week program developed to improve social cognition in patients with schizophrenia. We aimed to investigate the feasibility of implementing SoCog-MSRT in a rehabilitation setting and to evaluate whether our training methods produced improvements. %26lt;br%26gt;Method: The feasibility and benefits of SoCog-MSRT were evaluated in an open clinical trial with 14 participants with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder. Training comprised 10 twice-weekly sessions, for 5 weeks, with a pre- and post-training assessment. %26lt;br%26gt;Results: There were significant improvements on: (a) a classic false-belief test of Theory of Mind (ToM); (b) inferring complex mental states from the eyes; and (c) a self-reported measure of social understanding. Some of these improvements were associated with baseline levels of working memory and premorbid Intelligence Quotient (IQ). %26lt;br%26gt;Conclusions: SoCog-MSRT can improve ToM abilities and social understanding, but individuals with poorer working memory and lower premorbid IQ may be less able to benefit from this type of training.

• 出版日期2013-4