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Loneliness is associated with mentalizing and emotion recognition abilities in schizophrenia, but only in a cluster of patients with social cognitive deficits

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 May 2023

Ł. Okruszek Open the ORCID record for Ł. Okruszek [Opens in a new window] ,
M. Jarkiewicz ,
A. Piejka ,
M. Chrustowicz Open the ORCID record for M. Chrustowicz [Opens in a new window] ,
M. Krawczyk ,
A. Schudy Open the ORCID record for A. Schudy [Opens in a new window] ,
P. D. Harvey ,
D. L. Penn ,
K. Ludwig  and
M. F. Green
...Show all authors
Ł. Okruszek*
Affiliation:
Social Neuroscience Lab, Institute of Psychology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
M. Jarkiewicz
Affiliation:
Third Department of Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology, Warsaw, Poland
A. Piejka
Affiliation:
Social Neuroscience Lab, Institute of Psychology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
M. Chrustowicz
Affiliation:
Social Neuroscience Lab, Institute of Psychology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
M. Krawczyk
Affiliation:
Social Neuroscience Lab, Institute of Psychology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
A. Schudy
Affiliation:
Faculty of Psychology, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland
P. D. Harvey
Affiliation:
University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami VA Healthcare System, Miami, FL, USA
D. L. Penn
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA School of Psychology, Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
K. Ludwig
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
M. F. Green
Affiliation:
Desert Pacific Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Center, VA Greater Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
A. E. Pinkham
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX, USA Department of Psychiatry, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA
*
Corresponding author: Ł. Okruszek, email: lukasz.okruszek@psych.pan.pl
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Abstract

Objective:

Loneliness is a concern for patients with schizophrenia. However, the correlates of loneliness in patients with schizophrenia are unclear; thus, the aim of the study is to investigate neuro- and social cognitive mechanisms associated with loneliness in individuals with schizophrenia.

Method:

Data from clinical, neurocognitive, and social cognitive assessments were pooled from two cross-national samples (Poland/USA) to examine potential predictors of loneliness in 147 patients with schizophrenia and 103 healthy controls overall. Furthermore, the relationship between social cognition and loneliness was explored in clusters of patients with schizophrenia differing in social cognitive capacity.

Results:

Patients reported higher levels of loneliness than healthy controls. Loneliness was linked to increased negative and affective symptoms in patients. A negative association between loneliness and mentalizing and emotion recognition abilities was found in the patients with social-cognitive impairments, but not in those who performed at normative levels.

Conclusions:

We have elucidated a novel mechanism which may explain previous inconsistent findings regarding the correlates of loneliness in individuals with schizophrenia.

Keywords

social cognitiontheory of mindcluster analysissocial isolationlonelinesspsychosis
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society , Volume 30 , Issue 1 , January 2024 , pp. 27 - 34
Copyright
Copyright © INS. Published by Cambridge University Press, 2023

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