Social cognitive intervention is a feasible and promising approach to improving social functioning among individuals with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders. Dose-response findings suggest that delivering social cognitive interventions with greater frequency may maximize their benefit to patients. Research on social cognitive interventions is still young and effects from well-controlled trials have been inconsistent. It is not yet clear which components of social cognitive training may be the key active ingredients.
It is well-accepted that occupational hazards are endemic to the profession of psychology and that psychologists bring both strengths and vulnerabilities to their choice of career. Given the pressures faced by psychologists in contemporary society, how can we most effectively meet our ethical obligation to maintain competence throughout our professional life span in order to provide high quality care to those we serve? In this article, we propose to expand the current conceptualization of psychologist functioning as embodied in the widely promulgated stress-distress continuum. Through the incorporation of a positive dimension, we can envision the potential for psychologists to spiral up via their practice of enhanced self-care. Four foundational principles are interwoven throughout our consideration of effective self-care for psychologists: an emphasis on flourishing (rather than merely surviving), intentionality, an awareness of reciprocity in care of self and others and the benefits of integrating self-care into our daily practices and routines, rather than being added onto existing personal and professional obligations. A review of the literature on psychologist self-care strategies, healthy lifestyles, mindfulness, acceptance-based therapies, and positive psychology informs our endorsement of mindfulness-based positive principles and practice (MPPP's) for psychologists. These MPPP's are broadly conceptualized as the how of effective self-care that supports the what (as in what to do) in this realm. Finally, we envision a future in which effective self-care embedded in MPPP's is truly valued, supported and promoted by the profession in a manner that complements and sustains our ongoing well-being and professional competence.
Adolescents at genetic high risk (GHR) for schizophrenia have shown social skill impairments and there is some evidence to suggest they have Theory of Mind (ToM) deficits; however no research has used a standardized, performance-based behavioral measure to assess social functioning in this population nor evaluated ToM with a well-validated measure. We evaluated the psychometric properties of a new, theoretically-derived assessment of social functioning in GHR adolescents: the "High-Risk Social Challenge" task (HiSoC). The second aim was to explore whether GHR adolescents would show social skill and ToM deficits as compared to a non-psychiatric control (NPC) group. The present study evaluated social functioning with the HiSoC and ToM with the Eyes Test in 23 GHR adolescents and 31 NPCs. The HiSoC demonstrated high levels of reliability and validity. The GHR adolescents showed social skills impairments, but not ToM deficits. The results suggest that the HiSoC is a potentially useful new measure of social functioning in GHR adolescents. Furthermore, the findings add to the current body of literature that indicates that social skill impairments are related to schizophrenia vulnerability.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.