La cognición social como variable rasgo en esquizofrenia y su relación con el funcionamiento psicosocial

Abstract

Objective: Analyzing whether social cogni- tion is constituted as endophenotypic featu- re of schizophrenia, appearing in siblings of people diagnosed and remaining stable over the course of the disorder . Study the rela- tionship between deficits in social cognition and psychosocial functioning. Method: The sample consisted of patients diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia (29), siblings (14) and controls (12). The performance of the three groups in attributional style , social perception, and emotional recognition (So- cial Cognition Scale), theory of mind ( the test of innuendo and Eyes test) was compa- red. In addition, the group of patients was evaluated in their psychosocial functioning (HoNOS scale). Results: Patients scored sig- nificantly worse than controls at all scales of social cognition, except attributional style. The siblings showed worse performan- ce than controls in all scales of social cog- nition except social perception and hinting task. The patients scored worse than they first degree relatives in social perception and theory of mind, in other variables, si- blings and patients showed no significant differences. No significant correlation was found between time since diagnosis and so- cial cognition. Neither correlation is found between any variable social cognition and psychosocial functioning in the group of people with schizophrenia. Conclusion: The results show the brothers with moderate de- ficit in social cognition, closer to patients than to general population, supporting the hypothesis of social cognition as a featu- re appearing in high-risk states. It is not found a significant relationship between de- ficits in social cognition and time course of the disease, according to the conception of stable trait over time. Both findings support the conceptualization of social cognition as endophenotypic feature of schizophre- nia, although further research to expand the sample is required. No significant rela- tionship between psychosocial functioning and schizophrenia is observed, it could be because of the sample size or the type of instrument used to measure psychosocial functioning