Volume 28, Part 1

Cognitive Functioning in Schizophrenia: Cognitive Impairments as Clues for Treatment Development

Irene Bratti, MD Dr. Bratti is Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, Dept. of Veterans Affairs Mental Illness Research Education and Clinical Care (MIRECC) Advanced Fellowship in Psychiatry, San Diego, CA, and Clinical Instructor, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA

Robert Bilder, PhD, ABPP-CN

Dr. Bilder is Professor of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences and Psychology; and Chief of Medical Psychology & Neuropsychology, Jane and Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, Stewart and Lynda Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital, David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California at Los Angeles, CA.

Abstract

Schizophrenia is associated with profound cognitive deficits, which have a significant impact on functional outcome and quality of life. Many of these deficits are also seen in non-affected family members and have modest heritability. In this lesson, we define the concept of cognitive endophenotypes (measurable quantitative traits of a disorder which are presumed to have simpler inheritance patterns than the full illness phenotype) and describe their use in research. We discuss several genes and loci that are associated with both schizophrenia and with cognitive endophenotypes. We review the current pharmacological treatments for cognitive deficits in schizophrenia, and discuss new agents that are being evaluated for their effects on cognition. We conclude by identifying the need for clinicians to be able to properly evaluate cognitive function in their patients so that clinicians can effectively prescribe cognitive treatments for schizophrenia once such treatments become available.