Editor's Note:
After her presentation[1] at the American Psychiatric Association's 2016 Annual in Atlanta, Georgia, Medscape spoke with Mercedes Perez-Rodriguez, MD, assistant professor of psychiatry at Mount Sinai Hospital, New York, New York, about the idea of "social cognition" and how one therapy shows promise in treating the impaired social processing that comes with certain mental illnesses.
Medscape: To start, can you define social cognition?
Dr Perez-Rodriguez: Social cognition is, broadly speaking, the understanding of social cues, social situations, and social behavior. It involves recognizing emotion in others and the understanding of more complex mental states, intentions, thoughts, and beliefs—in other words, making sense of the social world.
Social cognition is what allows us to react appropriately to other people's behavior, to know what their intentions are. Without it, we wouldn't be able to read people's facial expressions and what emotional state they're in.
Medscape: Can you discuss how social cognition and understanding is impaired in certain mental disorders?
Dr Perez: Yes. We've known for nearly a century, for example, that one of the characteristics of the negative symptoms of schizophrenia is not just affective flattening but also decreased emotional reactivity and difficulties in understanding social situations. The nuances of social interactions can be lost on these patients.
When psychologists assess patients and administer the mental status exam, we always comment on things like eye contact and appropriateness of how well-related the person is. And yet, until very recently, this has not been studied systematically because we did not have standardized paradigms to assess social behaviors.
Medscape: In what other conditions is social cognitive impairment seen?
Dr Perez: I mentioned schizophrenia because it was where impaired social cognition was first described. But impaired social interaction is also a big component of autism and the autism spectrum. Individuals with autism spectrum disorders have difficulty understanding social cues and in interacting with others. On the extreme end of the autism spectrum, they may not be interested at all in social interactions.
Medscape: What about in certain personality disorders?
Dr Perez: All personality disorders are characterized by some degree of interpersonal dysfunction—it is one of the criteria for having a personality disorder. But then, even within personality disorders, there are some that have a particularly severe impairment in interpersonal functioning. Borderline personality disorder, schizotypal personality disorder, and avoidant personality disorder are probably the best three examples.
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Any views expressed above are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the views of WebMD or Medscape.
Cite this: At Last, Progress in Managing Social Dysfunction in Mental Illness - Medscape - Jul 06, 2016.
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