UNED Madrid, Spain

Social cognition and the beginning of psychosis 

In recent years, the advances in neuroscience have made possible the dissemination of certain concepts as fundamental elements in psychosis. One of these concepts is social cognition. The alteration of the factors that define this concept in schizophrenia, in relation to the general population, reveals one of the fundamental factors in the altered functioning of sensory perception in these types of patients but, does this also happen in the beginning stages of the illness? How can we assess it? A second characteristic proceeds in the interpretative phase that the psychotic patient carries out of this reality and the “aberrant” way in which it is done, in relation to what is actually happening in the external reality. Do these two factors of social cognition and aberrant salience appear in clinical practice? How are they expressed? How do we conduct the clinical assessment?

PhD in Medicine. Specialised in Paediatrics and Psychiatry. Master in Quality of Health Caring Services. Psychotherapist accredited by the FEAP and ICOMEM. Psychiatrist and Psychotherapist of children and adolescents at the Child University Hospital Niño Jesús. Tutor-Professor UNED. Visiting Professor at various Ibero-American Universities. National Psychosocial Research Award, 2000. Member of the International Network of field work for the CIE-11 (International Classification of Illnesses).