title: Emotional perception and theory of mind in first episode psychosis: the role of obsessive-compulsive symptomatology.
abstract: The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of comorbid obsessive-compulsive symptoms on emotional perception and theory of mind (ToM) in patients with first-episode psychosis. Participants were 65 patients with non-affective first episode psychosis (FEP) and 47 healthy controls. The patient group was divided into two subgroups, those with (FEP+; n=38) and those without obsessive-compulsive symptomatology (FEP-; n=27). Emotion perception and ToM were assessed with the Perception of Social Inference Test. Severity of psychotic and obsessive-compulsive symptoms was assessed with the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS), respectively. Deficits in emotion recognition and theory of mind were confirmed in patients with non-affective first-episode psychosis compared to healthy controls. In patients, comorbidity with obsessive-compulsive symptoms was associated with worse performance on certain aspects of social cognition (ToM 2nd order) compared to FEP- patients. Our findings of impaired emotion perception and ToM in patients with first-episode psychosis support the hypothesis that deficits are already present at illness onset. Presence of OCS appears to have further deleterious effects on social cognition, suggesting that these patients may belong to a schizo-obsessive subtype of schizophrenia characterized by more extensive neurobiological impairment.
authors.affiliation: Psychiatric Clinic of 424 Military Hospital of Thessaloniki, Greece.
authors.forename: Evangelos
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ntouros
authors.affiliation: 1st Department of Psychiatry, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, General Hospital "Papageorgiou", Ring Road Thessaloniki, N. Efkarpia, 54603 Thessaloniki, Greece. Electronic address: vbozikas@med.auth.gr.
authors.forename: Vasilios P
authors.initials: VP
authors.lastname: Bozikas
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Christina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Andreou
authors.affiliation: Psychiatric Clinic of 424 Military Hospital of Thessaloniki, Greece.
authors.forename: Dimitris
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kourbetis
authors.affiliation: 2nd Department of Psychiatry, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece.
authors.forename: Grigoris
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lavrentiadis
authors.affiliation: 2nd Department of Psychiatry, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece.
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Garyfallos
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015897:Comorbidity; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D057185:Sedentary Behavior; D012938:Social Perception; D056345:Theory of Mind / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Emotion perception; First episode psychosis; Obsessive–compulsive disorder; Theory of mind