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

Abstract

Social cognition refers to the ability to use social cues to infer the meaning and intentions behind the behaviour of others in order to respond in a socially adaptive manner. It is increasingly recognised that disorders of social cognition, including problems with emotion perception, theory of mind, conversational inference, morality judgements, decision making and social inhibition, characterise many developmental and psychiatric disorders and are highly relevant to many with acquired brain injuries or diseases, especially the frontotemporal dementias. This review provides an introduction and overview of the papers in this special edition on social cognition and places these in the context of other recent research. In doing so, several current issues in the clinical management of social cognition are delineated. Given that social cognition seems to be a sensitive predictor of psychosocial function, the assessment of social cognition is seen by many clinicians to be important although which profession is responsible is yet to be resolved. Issues in how social cognition are assessed are discussed, including the importance of context to social cognition, its interactive nature and the need to recognise influences such as family upbringing, gender and emotional state on social cognitive performance. There also needs to be development of tests that address all aspects of social cognition, including decision making and inhibition. Finally, this review discusses intervention research. Interventions are especially well developed in relation to schizophrenia, and less well developed in brain injury. These appear to be generally effective although treatments for emotional self-awareness are yet to be developed.

Family Perspectives on Social-Cognitive Impairment in Verbal Individuals With Autism Spectrum Disorder

“…The social impairments that are characteristic of ASD, including difficulties in initiating social interactions and engaging in and maintaining conversations (Müller, Schuler, & Yates, 2008), are thought to be manifestations of underlying impairments in social processing ability, known as social cognition (Baron-Cohen, Leslie, & Frith, 1985). Social cognition is a broad construct that comprises the cognitive processes involved in recognizing, interpreting, and responding to social information (McDonald, 2017; Newman, 2001). Some of the more salient elements of social cognition in autism are empathy, emotion recognition and regulation, and theory of mind (ToM) (Chung, Barch, & Strube, 2014; Eack, Wojtalik, Keshavan, & Minshew, 2017; Lartseva, Dijkstra, & Buitelaar, 2015; Mathersul, McDonald, & Rushby, 2013; Mazefsky, 2015; Peterson, 2014).…”

Interpretation of non‐verbal cues by people with and without TBI: understanding relationship intentions

“…In recent years, professionals in neurorehabilitation have examined social cognition in people with traumatic brain injury (TBI) to understand better social, emotional and behavioural changes associated with TBI and to predict better social integration outcomes (McDonald ). Social cognition is ‘the ability to use social cues to infer the meaning and intentions behind the behaviour of others in order to respond in a socially adaptive manner’ (3).…”

Revisión sistemática (2010-2017) de los instrumentos de evaluación y programas de rehabilitación de la cognición social utilizados con personas con esquizofrenia

“…Cronbach se calculó para el EQ en su conjunto utilizando a todos los sujetos de los estudios 1 y 2. El Alfa obtenido fue de 0,92, que es alto.Instrumentos citados en: IRI:Gibson et al, 2014;Lavoie et al, 2014;Sparks et al, 2010;Matsumoto et al, 2015;McDonald, 2017; Martín, M.C. et al, 2017.;Gagen, E. et al, 2017.…”

“…Instrumentos citados en: RMET:Brown et al, 2014; Fernandez-Gonzalo et al, 2015Guastella et al, 2015;Savla et al, 2012;Buck et al, 2015;Tso et al 2010;Tas et al, 2012;Martínez-Domínguez et al, 2015;Balogh et al, 2014;Woolley et al, 2014;Schimansky et al, 2010;Thaler et al, 2014;Wang et al, 2013; Lysaker et al, 2013b;Lugnegård et al, 2013;Donohoe et al, 2012;Browne et al, 2016;Robertson et al, 2013;Whitton& Henry, 2013; Tas et al, 2013;Köther, U. et Al, 2017.;Gagen, E. et Al, 2017.;Okruszek et al, 2017;EŞSİZOĞLU et al, 2017;Charernboon & Patumanond, 2017. TASIT:Davis et al, 2013;Wynn et al, 2010;Woolley et al, 2014;Sparks et al, 2010;Kalin et al, 2015;Horan et al, 2012;Browne et al, 2016;Rassovsky et al, 2015;McDonald, 2017; Mervis et al, 2017;Palumbo et al, 2017. SCORS: Lysaker et al, 2010.…”