Social Cognition in Schizophrenia: Relations between ToM Impairments and Symptoms

Abstract

Background: Social cognition in schizophrenia has received increasing interest over the last decade because of its role as an important determinant of functioning. However, one lacks a clear understanding about how social cognition abilities relates to the clinical symptomatology of schizophrenia. The aim of this study was to investigate one well-established domain of social cognition, Theory of Mind (ToM), and its associations to symptoms in a group of persons with schizophrenia. Specifically, the study aimed to explore whether the ToM deficits of undermentalizing and overmentalizing could be related to negative/disorganized symptoms and positive symptoms, respectively. Methods: The 52 participants were all recruited from the Norwegian Center for Mental Disorders Research (NORMENT) study of Oslo Universitetssykehus. The measurement chosen for ToM ability was Movie for the Assessment of Social Cognition (MASC), and the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) was used to assess clinical symptoms. The student participated in the collection and punching of data through work as a research assistant at NORMENT, and has also performed all statistical analyses presented. Results: Bivariate correlation analyses revealed a moderate, significant correlation between overmentalizing and positive symptoms. No significant correlations were found between undermentalizing and negative/disorganized symptoms. Results may indicate that only overmentalizing problems are state dependent in schizophrenia, whereas undermentalizing may be more of a trait marker.