M54. The Contribution of Social Cognition to Functional Outcomes and Psychiatric Symptoms in Psychosis-Related Disorders

Abstract

Background: Social impairment in psychosis-related disorders, such as schizophrenia, contributes to functional impairment, including decreased rates of employment, lower academic achievement, fewer and lower quality relationships, and less independent living (Harvey et al., 2012; Kirkpatrick, Fenton, Carpenter, & Marder, 2006). A proximal contributor to social impairment within psychotic disorders may be social cognition, as studies have found that social cognition mediates the relation between general cognitive ability and community functioning in schizophrenia (Brekke, Kay, Lee, & Green, 2005). Importantly, successful social relations rely on intact social cognition, which can be defned as specifc neurocognitive processes involving the perception, interpretation, and processing of social information (Green et al., 2008). Although most heavily studied in schizophrenia samples wherein individuals typically exhibit impairment across all social cognition domains, there is less research examining the relation between social cognitive ability and functional outcomes in other psychosis-related disorders (eg, bipolar disorder with psychotic features and MDD with psy-chotic features). Methods: Building on the conceptual framework of the research domain criteria (RDoC), study recruitment is not restricted to any specifc DSM-5 diagnostic category. Rather, patients are recruited broadly, but we have limited clinical recruitment to those with a history of clinically signifcant primary psychotic symptoms (ie, a history of psychotic symptoms that are not secondary to substances or a medical condition). This is an ongoing study; 2 stabilized outpatients with a psychotic disorder and 3 demographi-cally matched controls have been recruited to date. We plan to recruit a total of 45 clinical participants and 15 controls. Analyses will collapse across groups and examine the correlation between social cognition, as measured by the Hinting Task (Corcoran, Mercer, & Frith, 1995) and the Bell Lysaker Emotion Recognition Task (Bryson, Bell, & Lysaker, 1997), and functional outcomes, as assessed by the Specifc Levels of Functioning Scale (Schneider & Struening, 1983). Further, we will examine the relation between social cognitive ability and clinical symptoms, as assessed by the Clinical Assessment Interview for Negative Symptoms (Kring et al., 2013) and the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (Overall & Gorham, 1962; Ventura et al., 1993). Results: We hypothesize that social cognitive ability on both behavioral assessments will be positively associated with functioning and negatively associated with psychiatric symptoms. Conclusion: Results and conclusions will be presented on the enlarged sample.