Emotion identification and mentalization in non-psychotic first-degree relatives of young adult patients with schizophrenia disorder

Background Social cognition is a multi-factorial construct defined as the ability to process social information for adaptive functioning. A large body of evidence acknowledges deficits in social cognition as important features in schizophrenia and that such impairment represent a trait deficit. The aim of this study is to assess two social cognitive functions (emotional identification and mentalization) in young non-psychotic first-degree relatives of patients with schizophrenia; and to compare their performance with that of young patients with schizophrenia as well as with young healthy controls. This a comparative, cross-sectional study including 30 young patients with age range 15-25 with schizophrenia disorder, Thirty young non-psychotic siblings of the patients and 30 young healthy subjects. The patients were subjected to PANNNS to assess severity of psychotic symptoms. Selected tests for assessment of basic cognitive abilities and social cognitive functions (using Reading Mind in the Eye Test, Emotion Identification Test and Emotional Intelligence scale) were used for the three groups. Results the relatives group show better performance than the patients groups and worse performance than the control group in subtests of basic cognition and social cognition functions using Reading Mind in the Eye Test and Ekman, in addition, there was negative correlation between severity of negative psychotic features and facial emotional identification as measured by Ekman. Conclusion Youth who are first-degree relatives of schizophrenia patients show social cognitive deficits, supporting the hypothesis of the role of social cognition impairment as endophenotypic trait in schizophrenia disorder.