EPA-1469 – Neurocognitive Training and Functional Outcome: is there any Evidence of a Direct Relationship

Abstract

Impairments of neurocognitive functioning were largely documented in patients with schizophrenia. These deficits have strong relationships with functional outcome and represent unmet needs of available treatments for schizophrenia. Studies on the efficacy of cognitive remediation (CR) targeting these dysfunctions produced encouraging results. In fact, several reviews and meta-analyses (1,2) and our own data (3) indicate that CR approaches determine improvements of cognitive functioning in patients with schizophrenia. An impact on functional outcome was reported more consistently when the CR program was combined with a psychosocial intervention, such as vocational rehabilitation or social skills training (1–4). The mechanisms underlying synergistic effects of combining CR with other interventions are not clear. At the moment, studies with an optimal design to address mechanisms of interactions between the two rehabilitation approaches are lacking. Our data on differential effects of the two programs on functional outcome suggested that programs integrating cognitive and social skills training might target a larger number of functional impairments, but should be planned carefully and individually to fully exploit the synergistic potential, while avoiding the interference of detrimental effects of one program component with the favorable impact of the other component.