Development of Personal Narratives as a Mediator of the Impact of Deficits in Social Cognition and Social Withdrawal on Negative Symptoms in Schizophrenia

• Published in: The journal of nervous and mental disease Vol. 200; no. 4; pp. 290 - 295
• Main Authors: Lysaker, Paul H, Erikson, Molly, Macapagal, Kathryn R, Tunze, Chloe, Gilmore, Emily, Ringer, Jamie M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hagerstown, MD Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Inc 01-04-2012; Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; Lippincott Williams & Wilkins Ovid Technologies
• Subjects: Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Biological and medical sciences; Cognition Disorders - psychology; Cognitive psychology; Emotions - physiology; Female; Humans; Male; Mathematical models; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Narratives; Neuropsychological Tests; Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Psychoses; Schizophrenia; Schizophrenia - diagnosis; Schizophrenia - physiopathology; Schizophrenic Psychology; Self Concept; Severity of Illness Index; Social Isolation - psychology; Social psychology; Human; Craving; Schizophrenia; Recovery; Social cognition; Psychosis; Language; Social isolation; Narrative; Negative symptom; Withdrawal behavior; negative symptoms; Development
• ISSN: 0022-3018; 1539-736X
• DOI: 10.1097/NMD.0b013e31824cb0f4

ABSTRACTAlthough negative symptoms are a barrier to recovery from schizophrenia, little is understood about the psychological processes that reinforce and sustain them. To explore this issue, this study used structural equation modeling to test whether the impact of social withdrawal and emotion recognition deficits upon negative symptoms is mediated by the richness or poverty of personal narratives. The participants were 99 adults with schizophrenia spectrum disorders. Social cognition was assessed using the Bell-Lysaker Emotional Recognition Task; social withdrawal, using the Quality of Life Scale; narrative coherence, using the Scale To Assess Narrative Development; and negative symptoms, using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale. The findings reveal that although social cognition deficits and social withdrawal are significantly associated with negative symptom severity, these relationships become nonsignificant when personal narrative integrity is examined as a mediating factor. These results indicate that the development of personal narratives may be directly linked to the severity of negative symptoms; this construct may be a useful target for future interventions.