Research view
Title: | Theory of mind deficits in symptom remittent schizophrenia: a state or a trait? |
Author: | Mohamed El sayed Eltaweel and Yaakob Ibrahim |
Abstract: |
Background
Several research studies have reported impairments in theory of mind (ToM) abilities in
patients with schizophrenia. In addition, there is some evidence that family relatives of
schizophrenic patients also demonstrate deteriorating ToM and task performance suggesting
a genetic vulnerability for the disorder. This study aimed to compare ToM impairments among
symptom remittent patients with first-episode schizophrenia, their unaffected biological full
siblings, and controls and also determine whether there is any association between clinical
profile of schizophrenic patients and components of ToM abilities.
Patients and methods
The study included 50 male patients with symptom remittent first-episode
schizophrenia, 50 biological unaffected full siblings, and 50 healthy individuals.
The Awareness of Social Inference Test (TASIT) consists of a series of videotaped
vignettes that are designed to measure social perception abilities and assess the
detection of sarcasm, an important component of ToM.
Results
Compared with controls, patients with symptom remittent first-episode schizophrenia
and their biological unaffected full siblings performed poorer on TASIT components
(P = 0.001), with siblings having intermediate performance between patients and
controls. We found a significant correlation between severity of negative symptom
score, duration of hospitalization at index episode, and poor TASIT performance in the
schizophrenic patient group (Po0.02).
Conclusion
Our findings support the notion that poor TOM abilities may be a trait rather than a
state phenomenon of remittent first-episode schizophrenic patients. This suggests that
effective interventions, such as social cognition and interaction training, may be
beneficial in such patients.
Keywords:
biological siblings, schizophrenia, social perception, the awareness of social inference,
theory of mind
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Journal: | Middle East Curr Psychiatry 24:102–108 |
Text: | |
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