Mindfulness-Based Social Cognition Training (SocialMind) for People With Psychosis: A Feasibility Trial

Conclusion: This is the first implementation of SocialMind, which is the first mindfulness-based social cognition training. It is well tolerated by participants with schizophrenia spectrum disorders, and a further randomized controlled trial is proposed for people who have suffered their first episode of psychosis within the past 5 years.Clinical Trial Registration: www.ClinicalTrials.gov, identifier NCT03434405.IntroductionPeople suffering from psychosis frequently find it difficult to establish or maintain relationships with others or to engage in community activities (1, 2). These deficits are present even in high-risk or prodromal states (3), strengthening the role of social functioning as a core therapy outcome (4, 5). Social cognition is defined as “the psychological processes that are involved in the perception, encoding, storage, retrieval, and regulation of information of other people and ourselves” (6). It is associated with community functioning, with estimated average correlations ranging from 0.31 to 0.48 (7), and its deficits can also be observed in the early stages of the psychotic process (8).Antipsychotic medication improves positive and general psychiatric symptoms, but it has limited effect against negative syndrome, which consists of blunted affect, apathy, lack of spontaneity, and social withdrawal (9). These symptoms often respond to some psychological interventions, such as assertive community treatment, cognitive remediation, social skill...
Source: Frontiers in Psychiatry - Category: Psychiatry Source Type: research