Emotion and Social Cognition in Schizophrenia

Although impairments in social functioning are one of the prominent symptoms of schizophrenia, there is little agreement regarding the causes and components of these deficits. This book examines this issue from a social-cognitive approach, suggesting empathy and its related abilities, such as Theory of Mind and cognitive flexability, as core factors affecting the patients'' social competence. These factors are further discussed in relation to their link to prefrontal brain areas and their role in Schizophrenia. The data showed here suggests that an account of the behavioral impairment accompanying schizophrenia that excludes the role of emotion is insufficient. Normal social lives and adaptive responses are likely to require constant integration between cognitive and affective components.