Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T09:01:39.415Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The relationship of social function to depressive and negative symptoms in individuals at clinical high risk for psychosis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 May 2010

C. M. Corcoran*
Affiliation:
Centre of Prevention and Evaluation, New York State Psychiatric Institute at Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
D. Kimhy
Affiliation:
Centre of Prevention and Evaluation, New York State Psychiatric Institute at Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
M. A. Parrilla-Escobar
Affiliation:
Centre of Prevention and Evaluation, New York State Psychiatric Institute at Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
V. L. Cressman
Affiliation:
Centre of Prevention and Evaluation, New York State Psychiatric Institute at Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
A. D. Stanford
Affiliation:
Centre of Prevention and Evaluation, New York State Psychiatric Institute at Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
J. Thompson
Affiliation:
Centre of Prevention and Evaluation, New York State Psychiatric Institute at Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
S. Ben David
Affiliation:
Centre of Prevention and Evaluation, New York State Psychiatric Institute at Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
A. Crumbley
Affiliation:
Centre of Prevention and Evaluation, New York State Psychiatric Institute at Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
S. Schobel
Affiliation:
Centre of Prevention and Evaluation, New York State Psychiatric Institute at Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
H. Moore
Affiliation:
Centre of Prevention and Evaluation, New York State Psychiatric Institute at Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
D. Malaspina
Affiliation:
NYU Department of Psychiatry, Institute for Social and Psychiatric Initiatives (InSPIRES), New York, NY, USA
*
*Address for correspondence: C. M. Corcoran, M.D., Center of Prevention and Evaluation (COPE), Department of Psychiatry, NYSPI at Columbia, Unit 55, 1051 Riverside Drive, New York, NY 10032, USA. (Email: [email protected])

Abstract

Background

Social dysfunction is a hallmark symptom of schizophrenia which commonly precedes the onset of psychosis. It is unclear if social symptoms in clinical high-risk patients reflect depressive symptoms or are a manifestation of negative symptoms.

Method

We compared social function scores on the Social Adjustment Scale-Self Report between 56 young people (aged 13–27 years) at clinical high risk for psychosis and 22 healthy controls. The cases were also assessed for depressive and ‘prodromal’ symptoms (subthreshold positive, negative, disorganized and general symptoms).

Results

Poor social function was related to both depressive and negative symptoms, as well as to disorganized and general symptoms. The symptoms were highly intercorrelated but linear regression analysis demonstrated that poor social function was primarily explained by negative symptoms within this cohort, particularly in ethnic minority patients.

Conclusions

Although this study demonstrated a relationship between social dysfunction and depressive symptoms in clinical high-risk cases, this association was primarily explained by the relationship of each of these to negative symptoms. In individuals at heightened risk for psychosis, affective changes may be related to a progressive decrease in social interaction and loss of reinforcement of social behaviors. These findings have relevance for potential treatment strategies for social dysfunction in schizophrenia and its risk states and predict that antidepressant drugs, cognitive behavioral therapy and/or social skills training may be effective.

Type
Original Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Addington, J, Penn, D, Woods, SW, Addington, D, Perkins, DO (2008 a). Social functioning in individuals at clinical high risk for psychosis. Schizophrenia Research 99, 119124.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Addington, J, Penn, D, Woods, SW, Addington, D, Perkins, DO (2008 b). Facial affect recognition in individuals at clinical high risk for psychosis. British Journal of Psychiatry 192, 6768.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Anglin, DM, Alberti, PM, Link, BG, Phelan, JC (2008). Racial differences in beliefs about the effectiveness and necessity of mental health treatment. American Journal of Community Psychology 42, 1724.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
APA (2000). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edn, text revision. American Psychological Association: Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Ballon, JS, Kaur, T, Marks, II, Cadenhead, KS (2007). Social functioning in young people at risk for schizophrenia. Psychiatry Research 151, 2935.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bechdolf, A, Veith, V, Schwarzer, D, Schormann, M, Stamm, E, Janssen, B, Berning, J, Wagner, M, Klosterkötter, J (2005). Cognitive-behavioral therapy in the pre-psychotic phase: an exploratory study. Psychiatry Research 136, 251255.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bellack, AS, Morrison, RL, Wixted, JT, Mueser, KT (1990). An analysis of social competence in schizophrenia. British Journal of Psychiatry 156, 809818.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Blanchard, JJ, Mueser, KT, Bellack, AS (1998). Anhedonia, positive and negative affect, and social functioning in schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Bulletin 24, 413424.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cannon, TD, Cadenhead, K, Cornblatt, B, Woods, SW, Addington, J, Walker, E, Seidman, LJ, Perkins, D, Tsuang, M, McGlashan, T, Heinssen, R (2008). Prediction of psychosis in youth at high clinical risk: a multisite longitudinal study in North America. Archives of General Psychiatry 65, 2837.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chaves, AC, Seeman, MV, Mari, JJ, Maluf, A (1993). Schizophrenia: impact of positive symptoms on gender social role. Schizophrenia Research 11, 4145.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cooper-Patrick, L, Powe, NR, Jenckes, MW, Gonzales, JJ, Levine, DM, Ford, DE (1997). Identification of patient attitudes and preferences regarding treatment of depression. Journal of General Internal Medicine 12, 431438.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Corcoran, C, Davidson, L, Sills-Shahar, R, Nickou, C, Malaspina, D, Miller, T, McGlashan, T (2003). A qualitative research study of the evolution of symptoms in individuals identified as prodromal to psychosis. Psychiatric Quarterly 74, 313332.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Corcoran, C, Gerson, R, Sills-Shahar, R, Nickou, C, McGlashan, T, Malaspina, D, Davidson, L (2007). Trajectory to a first episode of psychosis: a qualitative research study with families. Early Interventions in Psychiatry 1, 308315.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cornblatt, BA, Auther, AM, Niendam, T, Smith, CW, Zinberg, J, Bearden, CE, Cannon, TD (2007 a). Preliminary findings for two new measures of social and role functioning in the prodromal phase of schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Bulletin 33, 688702.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cornblatt, BA, Lencz, T, Smith, CW, Correll, CU, Auther, AM, Nakayama, E (2003). The schizophrenia prodrome revisited: a neurodevelopmental perspective. Schizophrenia Bulletin 29, 633651.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cornblatt, BA, Lencz, T, Smith, CW, Olsen, R, Auther, AM, Nakayama, E, Lesser, ML, Tai, JY, Shah, MR, Foley, CA, Kane, JM, Correll, CU (2007 b). Can antidepressants be used to treat the schizophrenia prodrome? Results of a prospective, naturalistic treatment study of adolescents. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry 68, 546557.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Couture, SM, Penn, DL, Addington, SW, Woods, SW, Perkins, DO (2008). Assessment of social judgments and complex mental states in the early phases of psychosis. Schizophrenia Research 100, 237241.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Couture, SM, Penn, DL, Roberts, DL (2006). The functional significance of social cognition in schizophrenia: a review. Schizophrenia Bulletin 32, S44S63.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dickerson, F, Boronow, JJ, Ringel, N, Parente, F (1999). Social functioning and neurocognitive deficits in outpatients with schizophrenia: a 2-year follow-up. Schizophrenia Research 37, 1320.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Done, DJ, Crow, TJ, Johnstone, EC, Sacker, A (1994). Childhood antecedents of schizophrenia and affective illness: social adjustment at ages 7 and 11. British Medical Journal 309, 699703.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dworkin, RH, Green, SR, Small, NE, Warner, ML, Cornblatt, BA, Erlenmeyer-Kimling, L (1990). Positive and negative symptoms and social competence in adolescents at risk for schizophrenia and affective disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry 147, 12341236.Google ScholarPubMed
Goulding, SM, Franz, L, Bergner, E, Compton, MT (2010). Social functioning in urban, predominantly African American, socially disadvantaged patients with first-episode nonaffective psychosis. Schizophrenia Research. Published online 8 January 2010. doi:10.1016/j.schres.2009.12.018.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Häfner, H, Maurer, K (2003). Modeling the early course of schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Bulletin 29, 325340.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hamilton, M (1960). A rating scale for depression. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry 23, 5660.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hans, SL, Auerbach, JG, Asarnow, JR, Styr, B, Marcus, J (2000). Social adjustment of adolescents at risk for schizophrenia: The Jerusalem Infant Development Study. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 39, 14061414.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hawkins, KA, McGlashan, TH, Quinlan, D, Miller, TJ, Perkins, DO, Zipursky, RB, Addington, J, Woods, SW (2004). Factorial structure of the Scale of Prodromal Symptoms. Schizophrenia Research 68, 339347.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ho, BC, Nopoulos, P, Flaum, M, Arndt, S, Andreasen, NC (1998). Two-year outcome in first-episode schizophrenia: predictive value of symptoms for quality of life. American Journal of Psychiatry 155, 11961201.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hofer, A, Rettenbacher, MA, Widschwendter, CG, Kemmler, G, Hummer, M, Fleischhacker, WW (2006). Correlates of subjective and functional outcomes in outpatient clinic attendees with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder. European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience 256, 246255.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jin, H, Zisook, S, Palmer, BW, Patterson, TL, Heaton, RK, Jeste, DV (2001). Association of depressive symptoms with worse functioning in schizophrenia: a study in older outpatients. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry 62, 797803.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jones, P, Rodgers, B, Murray, R, Marmot, M (1994). Child development risk factors for adult schizophrenia in the British 1946 birth cohort. Lancet 344, 13981402.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kimhy, D, Corcoran, C (2008). Use of palm computer as an adjunct to cognitive-behavioural therapy with an ultra-high-risk patient: a case report. Early Intervention in Psychiatry 2, 234241.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kurtz, MM, Moberg, PJ (2005). Symptoms versus neurocognitive test performance as predictors of psychosocial status in schizophrenia: a 1- and 4-year prospective study. Schizophrenia Bulletin 31, 167174.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lencz, T, Smith, CW, Auther, A, Correll, CU, Cornblatt, B (2004). Nonspecific and attenuated negative symptoms in patients at clinical high-risk for schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Research 68, 3748.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lysaker, PH, Salyers, MP (2007). Anxiety symptoms in schizophrenia spectrum disorders: associations with social function, positive and negative symptoms, hope and trauma history. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 116, 290298.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
MacEwan, TH, Athawes, RW (1997). The Nithsdale Schizophrenia Surveys. XV. Social adjustment in schizophrenia: associations with gender, symptoms and childhood antecedents. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 95, 254258.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McCreadie, RG, Barron, ET (1984). The Nithsdale Schizophrenia Survey. IV. Social adjustment by self-report. British Journal of Psychiatry 144, 547550.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Meares, A (1959). The diagnosis of prepsychotic schizophrenia. Lancet i, 5558.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meyer, SE, Bearden, CE, Lux, SR, Gordon, JL, Johnson, JK, O'Brien, MP, Niendam, TA, Lowey, RL, Ventura, J, Cannon, TD (2005). The psychosis prodrome in adolescent patients viewed through the lens of DSM-IV. Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology 15, 434451.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Milev, P, Ho, B-C, Arndt, S, Andreasen, NC (2005). Predictive values of neurocognition and negative symptoms on functional outcome in schizophrenia: a longitudinal first-episode study with 7-year follow-up. American Journal of Psychiatry 162, 495506.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Miller, TJ, McGlashan, TH, Rosen, JL, Cadenhead, K, Cannon, T, Ventura, J, McFarlane, W, Perkins, DO, Pearlson, GD, Woods, SW (2003). Prodromal assessment with the structured interview for prodromal syndromes and the scale of prodromal symptoms: predictive validity, interrater reliability, and training to reliability. Schizophrenia Bulletin 29, 703715.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Møller, P, Husby, R (2000). The initial prodrome in schizophrenia: searching for naturalistic core dimensions of experience and behavior. Schizophrenia Bulletin 26, 217232.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Morrison, AP, French, P, Parker, S, Roberts, M, Stevens, H, Bentall, RP, Lewis, SW (2007). Three-year follow-up of a randomized controlled trial of cognitive therapy for the prevention of psychosis in people at ultra-high risk. Schizophrenia Bulletin 33, 682687.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morrison, AP, French, P, Walford, L, Lewis, SW, Kilcommons, A, Green, J, Parker, S, Bentall, RP (2004). Cognitive therapy for the prevention of psychosis at ultra-high risk: randomised controlled trial. British Journal of Psychiatry 185, 291297.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Myles-Worsley, M, Weaver, S, Blailes, F (2007). Comorbid depressive symptoms in the developmental course of adolescent-onset psychosis. Early Intervention in Psychiatry 1, 11831190.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Niendam, TA, Bearden, CE, Zinberg, J, Johnson, JK, O'Brien, M, Cannon, TD (2007). The course of neurocognition and social functioning in individuals at ultra high risk for psychosis. Schizophrenia Bulletin 33, 772781.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nurnberger, JI Jr., Blehar, MC, Kaufmann, CA, York-Cooler, C, Simpson, SG, Harkavy-Friedman, J, Severe, JB, Malaspina, D, Reich, T (1994). Diagnostic interview for genetic studies. Rationale, unique features, and training. Archives of General Psychiatry 51, 849859.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Penn, DL, Hope, DA, Spaulding, W, Kucera, J (1994). Social anxiety in schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Research 11, 277284.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Perivoliotis, D, Cather, C (2009). Cognitive behavioral therapy of negative symptoms. Journal of Clinical Psychology 65, 815830.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pukrop, R, Möller, HJ, Steinmeyer, EM (2000). Quality of life in psychiatry: a systematic contribution to construct validation and the development of the integrative assessment tool ‘modular system for quality of life’. European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience 250, 120132.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rosen, JL, Miller, TJ, D'Andrea, JT, McGlashan, TH, Woods, SW (2006). Comorbid diagnoses in patients meeting criteria for the schizophrenia prodrome. Schizophrenia Research 85, 124131.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ruhrmann, S, Paruch, J, Bechdolf, A, Pukrop, R, Wagner, M, Berning, J, Schultze-Lutter, F, Janssen, B, Gaebel, W, Möller, HJ, Maier, W, Klosterkötter, J (2008). Reduced subjective quality of life in persons at risk for psychosis. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 117, 357368.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shim, G, Kang, D-H, Chung, YS, Yoo, SY, Shin, NY, Kwon, JS (2008). Social functioning deficits in young people at risk for schizophrenia. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry 42, 678685.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Smith, TE, Hull, JW, Goodman, M, Hedayat-Harris, A, Willson, DF, Israel, LM, Munich, RL (1999). The relative influences of symptoms, insight, and neurocognition on social adjustment in schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 187, 102108.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Smith, TE, Hull, JW, Huppert, JD, Silverstein, SM (2002). Recovery from psychosis in schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder: symptoms and neurocognitive rate-limiters for the development of social behavior skills. Schizophrenia Research 55, 229237.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Svirskis, T, Korkeila, J, Heinimaa, M, Huttunen, J, Ilonen, T, Ristkari, T, Hietala, J, Syvälahti, E, McGlashan, T, Vahlberg, T, Salokangas, RK (2007). Quality of life and functioning ability in subjects vulnerable to psychosis. Comprehensive Psychiatry 48, 155160.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tan, HY, Ang, YG (2001). First-episode psychosis in the military: a comparative study of prodromal symptoms. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry 35, 512519.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Voges, M, Addington, J (2005). The association between social anxiety and social functioning in first episode psychosis. Schizophrenia Research 76, 287292.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wechsler, D (1981). Manual for the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale Revised (WAIS-R). Psychological Corporation: San Antonio, TX.Google Scholar
Wechsler, D (1991). Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, 3rd edn. Psychological Corporation: San Antonio, TX.Google Scholar
Weissman, MM, Bothwell, S (1976). Assessment of social adjustment by patient self-report. Archives of General Psychiatry 33, 11111115.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Weissman, MM, Prusoff, BA, Thompson, WD, Harding, PS, Myers, JK (1978). Social adjustment by self-report in a community sample and in psychiatric outpatients. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 166, 317326.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wittorf, A, Wiedemann, G, Buchkremer, G, Klingberg, S (2008). Prediction of community outcome in schizophrenia 1 year after discharge from inpatient treatment. European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience 258, 4858.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wong, C, Davidson, L, Anglin, D, Link, B, Malaspina, D, McGlashan, T, Corcoran, C (2009). Stigma in families of patients in early stages of psychotic illness. Early Intervention in Psychiatry 3, 108115.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Yung, AR, McGorry, PD (1996). The initial prodrome in psychosis: descriptive and qualitative aspects. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry 30, 587599.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Yung, AR, Phillips, LJ, Yuen, HP, McGorry, PD (2004). Risk factors for psychosis in an ultra high-risk group: psychopathology and clinical features. Schizophrenia Research 67, 131142.CrossRefGoogle Scholar