Paranoid Schizophrenia versus Schizoaffective Disorder: Neuropsychological Aspects

Abstract

Introduction Neuropsychological aspects of paranoid schizophrenia have still not been examined enough. These disorders are usually not studied separately, but are included in the studies about schizophrenic patients with positive symptoms. Despite the fact that schizophrenia represents a heterogeneous group of mental disorders, usually it is not separated from schizoaffective disorder in neuropsychological researches.

Objective The essence of this research is to evaluate cognitive functioning of patients with paranoid schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder by applying neuropsychological tests.

Methods The research included 91 subjects, right handed, from 30 to 53 years old, who were classified into three groups: inpatients with paranoid schizophrenia in remission (n=31), inpatients with schizoaffective disorder in remission (n=30) and healthy subjects (n=30).

Results Both groups of patients showed poorer achievements than healthy subjects in most of the applied tests. Patients with schizoaffective disorder showed global loss of intellectual efficiency, executive dysfunction and compromised visual–construction organization. Patients with paranoid schizophrenia expressed partial loss of intellectual efficiency with verbal IQ and executive functions preserved.

Conclusion In the remission phase, patients with paranoid schizophrenia expressed cognitive disorders in moderate degree, but when it comes to patients with schizoaffective disorder, more massive cognitive deficits were registered.

Keywords: neuropsychology; schizoaffective disorder; paranoid schizophrenia