The Relationship between Neurocognition and Functional Outcome in Early Psychosis

Jun Soo Kwon, MD, PhD

Department of Psychiatry/ Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea

Early Psychosis detection and intervention has been a matter of grave concern over recent decades. the concept of "Clinical - high - risk " (CHR) for psychosis has been used to reveal underlying mechanism of emerging psychotic disorder and to develop optimal intervention strategies in this population. in Schizophrenia impairments in neurocognition and functioning are long established characteristics. there is increasing evidence that a majority  of CHR of Individuals shows poor functioning, and that these functional difficulties continue even after the remission of clinical symptoms. in this context, functional disability in CHR individuals has been recently raised as an important intervention target paralleling the prediction of psychosis. Considering the well - established relationship of neurocognition and negative symptoms with functioning in chronic and the first - episode schizophrenia, recent reports on such relationship in CHR individuals seem to add more weight to this issue, prompting more specific aspects of the relations. such attempts would not only provide a direction toward better targeted treatments, ultimately enabling us to achieve full recovery in CHR individuals, but also give new insights into the underlying  pathophysiology associated with the development of schizophrenia. in this presentation, recent updates of neurocognitive and functional findings in early psychosis research will be reviewed briefly. and then, studies of CHR individuals in these domains at Seoul National University Hospital will be presented and discussed further.

Tweet