Neurocognitive and psychopathological correlates of self-monitoring ability in schizophrenia.

In a previous study reported by our group one salient finding was that many patients with schizophrenia appeared to be unable to judge their own quality of life (QoL) and that this inability was associated with negative symptoms. The association between negative symptoms, poor self-monitoring capacity and lack of insight might be explained by a common underlying factor, i.e. neurocognitive impairment. Fifty schizophrenic patients were examined by symptom ratings and a comprehensive neuropsychological test battery. The cognitive performance of the patients was very poor. The major findings of the present study were the association between clinically rated Lack of judgement (PANSS G12) and 1) a set of standard performance and executive indices of the computerised tests, and 2) difference scores between objective performance/strategies and self-ratings of the same attributes. There appears to be a substantial contribution of cognitive and executive problems to the poor judgement and lack of insight of schizophrenic patients, and these problems can to some extent be assessed objectively.