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Symptom dimensions and cognitive and social functioning in recent-onset schizophrenia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

A. J. W. Van Der Does*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Leiden University; Department of Psychiatry, University of Amsterdam; Institute for Psychotherapy ‘De Oosthoek’, Limmen, The Netherlands
P. M. A. J. Dingemans
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Leiden University; Department of Psychiatry, University of Amsterdam; Institute for Psychotherapy ‘De Oosthoek’, Limmen, The Netherlands
D. H. Linszen
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Leiden University; Department of Psychiatry, University of Amsterdam; Institute for Psychotherapy ‘De Oosthoek’, Limmen, The Netherlands
M. A. Nugter
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Leiden University; Department of Psychiatry, University of Amsterdam; Institute for Psychotherapy ‘De Oosthoek’, Limmen, The Netherlands
W. F. Scholte
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Leiden University; Department of Psychiatry, University of Amsterdam; Institute for Psychotherapy ‘De Oosthoek’, Limmen, The Netherlands
*
1 Address for correspondence: Dr A. J. W. Van der Does, Leiden University, Department of Psychiatry, Jelgersma Polikliniek, PO Box 1251, 2340 BG Oegstgeest, The Netherlands.

Synopsis

The relationships among symptoms, cognitive functioning and social functioning were investigated in 60 patients with recent-onset schizophrenia. Positive symptoms were unrelated to cognitive measures. Disorganization and depressive symptoms were correlated significantly with Card Sorting performance. Furthermore, only negative symptoms were correlated significantly with social functioning. These results replicate earlier studies with chronic and mixed samples, and support the validity of disorganization as a separate symptom dimension. In contrast to most previous studies, no significant correlations were found between negative symptoms and cognitive measures. However, some evidence was found for a non-linear association between negative symptoms and several cognitive measures. The variation explained by a curvilinear model was not high, but for some cognitive measures this model was clearly superior to a linear model. If replicated, this finding supports the position that cross-sectionally measured negative symptoms cannot be viewed as a unitary concept.

Type
Original Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

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