background The ability to cognitively represent one's own and other persons' beliefs, feelings and intentions has been termed 'theory of mind' (ToM). ToM comprises a psychological mechanism that evolved in apes and humans to deal with an increasingly complex social environment. A wealth of studies has shown that patients diagnosed with schizophrenia perform poorly on experimental ToM tasks. The putative association of ToM abilities with patients' actual behaviour is, however, only partially understood.
method In this explorative study, standard ToM picture stories were given to a group of 38 patients with 'core' schizophrenia. Intelligence, executive functioning, psychopathology using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (panss) and social behaviour using the Social Behaviour Scale (Wykes & Sturt 1987) were assessed.
results Findings suggest that patients' behavioural abnormalities are predicted best by ToM performance, irrespective of other cognitive measures.
conclusion These results point to an important link of social cognitive abilities with the actual behaviour of patients with schizophrenia.