Functional capacity, life skills critical for patients with schizophrenia

Using network analysis, the researchers analyzed the results found by the measures and the relationships between the four domains. “The study clearly shows that functional capacity and everyday life skills play a key role,” Dr. Galderisi and her associates wrote. “Functional capacity ... links neurocognition and social cognition with real-life functioning nodes, in particular with everyday life skills, such as household activities, handling of personal finances, and use of the telephone or public transportation.”

Dr. Galderisi and her associates said their findings show that patients with schizophrenia need treatment that goes beyond antipsychotics. “Therefore, targeting positive symptoms only, as treatment with antipsychotic medication does, is unlikely to lead to recovery in adults with schizophrenia,” they wrote.

Read the full study in JAMA Psychiatry. 2018 Feb 14. doi: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2017.4607.

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