Do recent-onset schizophrenia patients experience a "social network crisis"?

Area of Science:

• Psychiatry
• Social Psychology
• Clinical Psychology

Background:

• The onset of schizophrenia is hypothesized to trigger a social network crisis.
• This crisis is thought to cause a significant decline in social resources post-hospitalization.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the social network crisis theory in recent-onset schizophrenia.
• To assess social network characteristics before and after first hospitalization.

Main Methods:

• Assessed social networks of 89 recent-onset schizophrenia patients within 12 months pre-hospitalization.
• Follow-up assessment for 34 patients at 15 months post-hospitalization.
• Examined cross-sectional relationships between social networks, functioning, and symptoms.

Main Results:

• Patients presented with network disturbances at initial assessment: small network size, high proportion of family, and dense interconnections.
• These disturbances remained stable at follow-up.
• Smaller networks correlated with poorer social and clinical functioning, especially at follow-up.

Conclusions:

• The study does not support the social network crisis concept in schizophrenia.
• Social network disturbances appear to pre-exist first hospitalization.
• These pre-existing disturbances are functionally relevant in early schizophrenia.