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Updated: Aug 19, 2025

Working Memory Training for Older Participants: A Control Group Training Regimen and Initial Intellectual Functioning Assessment
Published on: September 20, 2020
Working memory deterioration as an early warning sign for relapse in remitted psychosis: A one-year naturalistic
Tiffany Junchen Tao1, Christy Lai Ming Hui1, Priscilla Wing Man Hui1
1Department of Psychiatry, School of Clinical Medicine, LKS Faculty of Medicine, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
Background:
Relapse prevention is an important goal in the clinical management of psychosis. Cognitive deficits/deterioration can provide useful insights for monitoring relapse in psychosis patients.
Methods:
This was a prospective, naturalistic 1-year follow-up study involving 110 psychosis patients with full clinical remission. Relapse, defined as the recurrence of psychotic symptoms, was monitored monthly along with digital tracking of verbal and visual working memory using a mobile app developed for this study. Cognitive deterioration was defined as worsening performance over 2 months prior to relapse or study termination, whichever was earlier. Other clinical, cognitive, functioning, and psychosocial variables were also collected.
Results:
At 1 year, 18 (16.36%) patients relapsed, of which 6 (33.33%) required hospitalization. Relapse was predicted by verbal working memory deterioration 2 months prior to relapse (p = 0.029), worse medication adherence (p = 0.018), and less resilience (p = 0.014).
Conclusions:
Verbal working memory deterioration is a novel early sign of relapse. It is a clearly defined, objectively measurable, and reproducible marker that can help clinicians and healthcare workers identify patients at risk of relapse and make decisions about maintenance therapy. Moreover, digital monitoring is a viable tool in the management of relapse.
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