Neurocognitive differences between inpatients and outpatients with symptomatically nonremitted schizophrenia: A cross-sectional study

Effects of mild-intensity physical exercise on neurocognition in inpatients with schizophrenia: A pilot randomized controlled trial

PURPOSE

To find suggestions for a future definitive randomized control trial and examine the effects of physical exercise on neurocognition in schizophrenia.

DESIGN AND METHODS

Patients hospitalized with schizophrenia were randomly assigned to exercise (n = 5) or control (n = 17) groups. The experimental group performed an exercise regimen for 8 weeks. Following intervention, demographics, psychiatric symptoms, and neurocognitive functions were examined.

FINDINGS

The patients in the control and exercise groups, 14 and 4, respectively, showed significant differences in hospitalization duration and negative symptoms. After controlling both, neurocognition improved in the exercise group compared with the control group.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS

Mild-intensity physical exercise improves global neurocognition in schizophrenic inpatients and could lead to earlier release.

A review of autobiographical memory studies on patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders

BACKGROUND

Patients suffering from schizophrenia spectrum disorders demonstrate various cognitive deficiencies, the most pertinent one being impairment in autobiographical memory. This paper reviews quantitative research investigating deficits in the content, and characteristics, of autobiographical memories in individuals with schizophrenia. It also examines if the method used to activate autobiographical memories influenced the results and which theoretical accounts were proposed to explain the defective recall of autobiographical memories in patients with schizophrenia.

METHODS

PsycINFO, Web of Science, and PubMed databases were searched for articles published between January 1998 and December 2018. Fifty-seven studies met the inclusion criteria. All studies implemented the generative retrieval strategy by inducing memories through cue words or pictures, the life-stage method, or open-ended retrieval method. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) Statement guidelines were followed for this review.

RESULTS

Most studies reported that patients with schizophrenia retrieve less specific autobiographical memories when compared to a healthy control group, while only three studies indicated that both groups performed similarly on memory specificity. Patients with schizophrenia also exhibited earlier reminiscence bumps than those for healthy controls. The relationship between comorbid depression and autobiographical memory specificity appeared to be independent because patients' memory specificity improved through intervention, but their level of depression remained unchanged. The U-shaped retrieval pattern for memory specificity was not consistent. Both the connection between the history of attempted suicide and autobiographical memory specificity, and the relationship between psychotic symptoms and autobiographical memory specificity, remain inconclusive. Patients' memory specificity and coherence improved through cognitive training.

CONCLUSIONS

The overgeneral recall of autobiographical memory by patients with schizophrenia could be attributed to working memory, the disturbing concept of self, and the cuing method implemented. The earlier reminiscence bump for patients with schizophrenia may be explained by the premature closure of the identity formation process due to the emergence of psychotic symptoms during early adulthood. Protocol developed for this review was registered in PROSPERO (registration no: CRD42017062643).