Social Cognitive Interventions in Neuropsychiatric Patients: A Meta-Analysis

Abstract

Social cognitive deficits are common in neuropsychiatric disorders. Given the proximity of social cognition (SC) to everyday functioning, many intervention studies (including targeted, comprehensive, and broad-based approaches) have focussed on SC. The aim of this paper was to quantitatively meta-analyse the efficacy of SC interventions in adult neuropsychiatric patients. Databases Pubmed, PsycINFO, Web of Knowledge, and Embase were searched for controlled SC intervention studies published between 01-01-2003 and 01-01-2016. Forty-one studies, comprising 1,508 patients with schizophrenia, autism spectrum disorders, or acquired brain injury were included. Outcome measures evaluated emotion perception (EP), social perception (SP), Theory of Mind (ToM), and social functioning (SF). The meta-analyses showed that interventions were effective in improving SC (Cohen's d=.71). Interventions targeting one specific SC function were found to be most effective (d=.89), followed by broad-based interventions, targeting non-SC domains in addition to SC (d=.65), and comprehensive interventions, that target multiple SC processes (d=.61). Targeted interventions were especially effective in improving EP and ToM. Comprehensive interventions were able to ameliorate EP, ToM, and SF. Broad-based interventions were especially effective in improving SF, but also showed effects on EP and ToM.

Evidence of embodied social competence during conversation in high functioning children with autism spectrum disorder

“…It may be that the lack of awareness of other mental agents that is associated with the restricted and repetitive behaviors of ASD increases the intrinsic degree of correlation in a child’s activity that then does not allow for a flexible coordination with another person in a social interaction. Children then may be less able to coordinate with another person due to their lack of flexibility, which makes it harder for them to build rapport [ 10 – 13 ] and in turn manifests itself as a deficit in theory of mind known to be part of ASD [ 40 , 41 , 44 , 45 ]. Importantly, the fact that the dynamic whole-body movement measures are related to higher social cognition measures indicates that these high functioning children with ASD are showing some degree of embodied social competence in the sense that the level of their social cognition seems to manifest itself also in their whole-body movements during this type of interaction.…”

“…Some researchers have claimed that lack of ToM does not explain all deficits present in ASD, is not unique to ASD, and is not universally experienced by all individuals with ASD [ 42 , 43 ]. However, ToM remains a central measure used in the ASD literature to classify children [ 41 , 44 , 45 ] and there is some consensus that there is evidence that the development of ToM is delayed in children with ASD and the attribution of mental states is challenging for individuals with ASD, even if they do pass ToM tests [ 43 ]. The current study employed four ToM tasks, three that required verbal answers and one non-verbal measure.…”

Social adjustment in adolescent survivors of pediatric central nervous system tumors: A report from the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study

“…Although social-cognitive interventions do exist, these have generally been trialed in adult patients with clinical populations including schizophrenia, autism spectrum disorder, or acquired brain injury. 34 Future research could work to adapt these interventions for a pediatric CNS tumor population.…”

What's New in the Clinical Management of Disorders of Social Cognition?

“…Treatment has been conducted with a range of approaches from a singular treatment focused on a particular skill to more comprehensive approaches targeting two or more such skills and possibly also non-social cognition. As reported in this volume, Roelofs Wingbermühle, Egger, & Kessels (2017) conducted a meta-analysis of 41 studies reporting on treatment of social cognitive disorders in over 1500 patients with acquired brain disorders or neuropsychiatric symptoms. Encouragingly, they found that targeted treatments were especially effective, particularly for emotion perception, ToM and social perception (the ability to use social cues to determine social roles, rules, etc).…”

“…Clinicians who work with people with brain disorders, whether these are developmental, psychiatric or due to acquired injury or disease, are only too aware that social and emotional impairments are a major obstacle to successful psychosocial functioning. Social cognition impairments not only characterise disorders of schizophrenia, but are also seen as the defining characteristic of Autism Spectrum Disorders (American Psychiatric Association, 2013) and manifest in other intellectual and genetic developmental disabilities (Roelofs, Wingbermühle, Kessels, & Egger, 2017). In the field of traumatic brain injury (TBI), 84% of clinicians reported that disorders of social cognition affect at least half of their clients (Kelly, McDonald, & Frith, 2016).…”