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Review
. 2022 Nov:317:114926.
doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2022.114926. Epub 2022 Oct 23.

A narrative review of treatment interventions to improve cognitive performance in schizophrenia, with an emphasis on at-risk and early course stages

Ahmad Mayeli  1 , Kevin J Clancy  1 , Susan Sonnenschein  1 , Deepak K Sarpal  1 , Fabio Ferrarelli  2
Affiliations
Review

A narrative review of treatment interventions to improve cognitive performance in schizophrenia, with an emphasis on at-risk and early course stages

Ahmad Mayeli et al. Psychiatry Res. 2022 Nov.

Abstract

Cognitive dysfunction is a core feature of schizophrenia (SCZ), which unfavorably affects SCZ patients' daily functioning and overall clinical outcome. An increasing body of evidence has shown that cognitive deficits are present not only at the beginning of the illness but also several years before the onset of psychosis. Nonetheless, the majority of treatment interventions targeting cognitive dysfunction in SCZ, using both pharmacological and nonpharmacological approaches, have focused on chronic patients rather than individuals at high risk or in the early stages of the disease. In this article, we provide a narrative review of cognitive interventions in SCZ patients, with a particular focus on pre-emptive interventions in at-risk/early course individuals when available. Furthermore, we discuss current challenges for these pre-emptive treatment interventions and provide some suggestions on how future work may ameliorate cognitive dysfunction in these individuals.

Keywords: Cognition; Cognitive remediation therapy; Early interventions; Pharmacotherapy; Schizophrenia.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Cognitive deficits in Schizophrenia patients include specific domains and general cognitive functioning.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
Current interventions for cognitive dysfunction in Schizophrenia.
Fig. 3.
Fig. 3.
Challenges and future directions for pre-emptive cognitive interventions in Schizophrenia.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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