Provides state-of-the-art information about cognition in schizophrenia with a wide ranging focus on measuring and treating cognitive deficits.

This volume covers the dramatic developments that have occurred in basic neuroscience and clinical research in cognitive neurology and dementia. It is based on the clinical approach to the patient, and provides essential knowledge that is fundamental to clinical practice.

A practical guide on how to assess and treat schizophrenia and related disorders using cognitive rehabilitation.

Although it has been known for 100 years that cognitive functioning is impaired in schizophrenia, the implications of this impairment have only recently been clearly understood. While in the past, cognitive deficits were thought to be the result of other aspects of the illness, such as poor co-operation, or as a result of the treatment of the illness, it is now known that these factors exert only a very minor influence on cognitive deficit. This book, with contributions from the major international names in the field, reviews the most recent research on the impairment of cognitive functioning in schizophrenia, covering: what it is, how wide-ranging it can be, what the clinical implications are, and how it can be treated? A detailed insight into cognitive deficit is the key to understanding why previous treatments have failed, and the key by which new treatments may change this terrible illness, treatments significantly more effective than earlier interventions.

Neuropsychiatric diseases, such as schizophrenia, Alzheimer's disease, and etc., represent a serious medical and socioeconomic problems. These diseases are often accompanied by impairments of cognitive function, e.g., abstract thinking, decision-making, attention, and several types of memory. Such deficits significantly disrupt quality of life and daily functioning of patients. Cognitive deficits in neuropsychiatric diseases are associated with alterations of brain morphology and function, and are often resistant to therapeutic interventions. In schizophrenia and related disorders, cognitive deficits are also defined as endophenotypes, i.e. measurable phenotypes linking these disaeses with discrete heritable and reproducible traits. This points to the importance of elucidating these endophenotypes in translational studies. Animal models may not mimic the full spectrum of clinical symptoms, but may act as analogies of particular behaviors or other pathological outcomes. They are useful to search for the etiology of particular psychiatric illnesses and novel therapeutics. Moreover, several behavioral tests to measure cognitive performance in rodents and other species have been implemented. The primary focus of the present topic is to provide up-to-date information on cognitive deficits of neuropsychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia. This Research Topic also delineates future directions for translational studies aimed at developing novel treatments/interventions of cognitive disturbances.

Social Cognition in Psychosis combines current research on phenotypes, neurobiology, and existing evidence on the assessment and treatment of various forms of psychoses. The book presents various treatment options, including assessment approaches, tools and training methods that aid in the rehabilitation of patients with psychotic disorders. Social cognition is a set of psychological processes related to understanding, recognizing, processing and appropriately using social stimuli in one's environment. Individuals with psychotic disorders consistently exhibit impairments in social cognition. As a result, social cognition has been an important target for intervention, with recent efforts trying to enhance early recovery among individuals with psychotic disorders. Provides an overview of social cognition in relation to various forms of psychotic disorders Includes assessment and treatment for social cognition dysfunction in psychoses Discusses the genetics and heritability theory of social cognitive dysfunction in psychosis Defines the neurobiology of social cognitive dysfunctions

Social Cognition in Schizophrenia: From Evidence to Treatment provides a firm grounding in the theory and research of normal social cognition, builds on this base to describe how social cognition appears to be dysfunctional in schizophrenia, and explains how this dysfunction might be ameliorated.