Research shows that some people with schizophrenia suffer a loss of certain high-level cognitive abilities, making it difficult for them to adapt to change. But a new Ohio University st udy suggests this problem exists long before psychosis begins, information that eventually could be used to create preventive therapy for this serious mental illness.
Cognitive function generally is divided into two areas: basic functions, which govern language, memory and visual perception; and executive function, which enables the basic functions to work together to complete a goal.
For example: A factory worker builds products that move from left to right on a conveyor belt. New machin ery reverses the belt's direction to right to left. A person with normal executive functioning may have some difficulty adjusting at first, but eventually will adapt. But for a person with an executive functioning problem, this change in routine is unsettling, and can leave the individual unable to complete the task at all.
In a new study of people potentially at high risk for schizophrenia or other psychotic disorders, Assistant Professor of Psychology Julie Suhr found that executive func tioning problems exist before the onset of psychosis, which could give mental health professionals a good indicator of future problems.
"Risk for schizophrenia is not yet clearly defined," said Suhr, author of the study. While scientists know that people with a family history of schizophrenia are more likely to have the mental illness, there is no way to know which people within that high-risk group will develop schizophrenia. If executive functioning problems serve as an early warning sign, as Suhr's study suggests, mental health professionals can test for it.
Research notes are compiled by Kelli Whitlock and Dwight Woodward of University News Services and Periodicals.
