[Correlation between cognitive defects and the course of schizophrenia. Initial study of a rehabilitation programme...

Cognitive deficits are the "primary" dysfunction in schizophrenia. They make possible a reliable prediction of the broadly understood adjustment of the psychiatric patients. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the relation between the results of rehabilitation and the cognitive deficits among the patients diagnosed with schizophrenia.

The assessment of the cognitive deficits presented in this paper was conducted using the WCST, the Trial Making Test and a verbal fluency tests. These tests evaluated mainly executive functioning and working memory. Four indicators of the course of schizophrenia were taken into consideration: the severity of symptoms assessed by PANNS, the range of social interactions, professional functioning (readiness to be employed) and the Quality of Life self-evaluation questionnaire by Olivier. Altogether 64 patients diagnosed with schizophrenia (in accordance with the DSM-IV and ICD-10) who participated in a rehabilitation programme were assessed.

The study showed correlation between poorer verbal fluency and severity of negative symptoms, worse professional functioning, limited range of social interactions and lesser satisfaction with work, privacy level and the time spent outside home estimated by the QLQ. The poorer results of the TMT correlate with the severity of negative symptoms and the level of general psychopathology as well as with worse professional functioning. The number of correct answers in the WCST is correlated with the level of professional functioning. Persons with higher education made less perseverative errors. Persons who managed to finish the first category of the test faster are characterised by a broader social interactions network.

It was demonstrated that within the studied group of people with a long-term course of schizophrenia cognitive deficits correlate with the considered indicators of the results of rehabilitation process.