Emotional perception and theory of mind in first episode psychosis: the role of obsessive-compulsive symptomatology

TY - JOUR

T1 - Emotional perception and theory of mind in first episode psychosis: the role of obsessive-compulsive symptomatology

AU - Ntouros, Evangelos

AU - Bozikas, Vasilios P

AU - Andreou, Christina

AU - Kourbetis, Dimitris

AU - Lavrentiadis, Grigoris

AU - Garyfallos, George

N1 - Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

PY - 2014/12/15

Y1 - 2014/12/15

N2 - The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of comorbid obsessive-compulsive symptoms on emotional perception and theory of mind (ToM) in patients with first-episode psychosis. Participants were 65 patients with non-affective first episode psychosis (FEP) and 47 healthy controls. The patient group was divided into two subgroups, those with (FEP+; n=38) and those without obsessive-compulsive symptomatology (FEP-; n=27). Emotion perception and ToM were assessed with the Perception of Social Inference Test. Severity of psychotic and obsessive-compulsive symptoms was assessed with the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS), respectively. Deficits in emotion recognition and theory of mind were confirmed in patients with non-affective first-episode psychosis compared to healthy controls. In patients, comorbidity with obsessive-compulsive symptoms was associated with worse performance on certain aspects of social cognition (ToM 2nd order) compared to FEP- patients. Our findings of impaired emotion perception and ToM in patients with first-episode psychosis support the hypothesis that deficits are already present at illness onset. Presence of OCS appears to have further deleterious effects on social cognition, suggesting that these patients may belong to a schizo-obsessive subtype of schizophrenia characterized by more extensive neurobiological impairment.

AB - The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of comorbid obsessive-compulsive symptoms on emotional perception and theory of mind (ToM) in patients with first-episode psychosis. Participants were 65 patients with non-affective first episode psychosis (FEP) and 47 healthy controls. The patient group was divided into two subgroups, those with (FEP+; n=38) and those without obsessive-compulsive symptomatology (FEP-; n=27). Emotion perception and ToM were assessed with the Perception of Social Inference Test. Severity of psychotic and obsessive-compulsive symptoms was assessed with the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS), respectively. Deficits in emotion recognition and theory of mind were confirmed in patients with non-affective first-episode psychosis compared to healthy controls. In patients, comorbidity with obsessive-compulsive symptoms was associated with worse performance on certain aspects of social cognition (ToM 2nd order) compared to FEP- patients. Our findings of impaired emotion perception and ToM in patients with first-episode psychosis support the hypothesis that deficits are already present at illness onset. Presence of OCS appears to have further deleterious effects on social cognition, suggesting that these patients may belong to a schizo-obsessive subtype of schizophrenia characterized by more extensive neurobiological impairment.

U2 - 10.1016/j.psychres.2014.07.058

DO - 10.1016/j.psychres.2014.07.058

M3 - SCORING: Journal article

C2 - 25130778

VL - 220

SP - 112

EP - 117

JO - PSYCHIAT RES

JF - PSYCHIAT RES

SN - 0165-1781

IS - 1-2

ER -