Cognitive gains as a mechanism of functional capacity improvement in schizophrenia: Results from a multi-site randomized controlled trial.

Randomized-controlled trials of Cognitive Enhancement Therapy (CET) reveal its impact on cognitive and functional improvements in schizophrenia and serve as an opportunity for causal claims of potential mediational relationships. In order to examine cognitive gains during CET as a mechanism for improving functional capacity, this secondary analysis included 86 outpatients in the early course of schizophrenia from an 18-month randomized-controlled trial of CET. Functional capacity was measured using the Brief UCSD Performance-Based Skills Assessment (UPSA-B) and cognitive performance by the MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery (MCCB) and additional measures of social cognition.

Confirmatory Efficacy of Cognitive Enhancement Therapy for Early Schizophrenia: Results From a Multisite Randomized Trial.

Objective: Cognitive enhancement therapy (CET) is an 18-month comprehensive cognitive remediation intervention designed to improve cognition and functioning among patients with schizophrenia. The current study sought to confirm previously observed benefits of CET on cognitive and behavioral outcomes in the early course of the condition in a large multisite trial.

Methods: Overall, 102 outpatients with early-course schizophrenia were randomly assigned to 18 months of CET (N=58) or enriched supportive therapy (EST; N=44).

Cognitive enhancement therapy for adult autism spectrum disorder: Results of an 18-month randomized clinical trial.

Unlabelled: Cognitive remediation is a promising approach to treating core cognitive deficits in adults with autism, but rigorously controlled trials of comprehensive interventions that target both social and non-social cognition over a sufficient period of time to impact functioning are lacking. This study examined the efficacy of cognitive enhancement therapy (CET) for improving core cognitive and employment outcomes in adult autism. Verbal adult outpatients with autism spectrum disorder (N = 54) were randomized to an 18-month, single-blind trial of CET, a cognitive remediation approach that integrates computer-based neurocognitive training with group-based training in social cognition, or an active enriched supportive therapy (EST) comparison focused on psychoeducation and condition management.

Patterns of Substance Use During Cognitive Enhancement Therapy: An 18-Month Randomized Feasibility Study.

Objective: Substance use problems are common among people with schizophrenia, as are significant cognitive impairments. Because of potential shared neurobiological pathways, it is possible that cognitive remediation interventions may be associated with improvements in both substance use and cognition. This study examined the impact of cognitive remediation on alcohol and cannabis use and the cognitive correlates of changes in substance use among outpatients with schizophrenia.

Cognitive Enhancement Therapy Improves Frontolimbic Regulation of Emotion in Alcohol and/or Cannabis Misusing Schizophrenia: A Preliminary Study.

Individuals with schizophrenia who misuse substances are burdened with impairments in emotion regulation. Cognitive enhancement therapy (CET) may address these problems by enhancing prefrontal brain function. A small sample of outpatients with schizophrenia and alcohol and/or cannabis substance use problems participating in an 18-month randomized trial of CET (n = 10) or usual care (n = 4) completed posttreatment functional neuroimaging using an emotion regulation task.

Cognitive Enhancement Therapy in substance misusing schizophrenia: results of an 18-month feasibility trial.

Substance use is a frequent problem in schizophrenia, and although many substance misusing patients with the disorder also experience considerable cognitive impairments, such individuals have been routinely excluded from clinical trials of cognitive remediation that could support their functional and addiction recoveries. This study conducted a small-scale feasibility trial of Cognitive Enhancement Therapy (CET) in substance misusing schizophrenia patients to assess the feasibility and efficacy of implementing comprehensive neurocognitive and social-cognitive remediation in this population. A total of 31 schizophrenia outpatients meeting addiction severity criteria for alcohol and/or cannabis use were randomized to 18months of CET or usual care.

Commonalities in social and non-social cognitive impairments in adults with autism spectrum disorder and schizophrenia.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and schizophrenia are both conditions that are characterized by impairments in social and non-social cognition, yet commonalities in the magnitude and domains of cognitive deficits across these two conditions remain unclear. This study examined neurocognitive and social-cognitive functioning in 47 outpatients with schizophrenia, 43 verbal adults with ASD, and 24 healthy volunteers. A comprehensive neuropsychological battery assessing processing speed, attention, memory, and problem-solving domains was administered along with a social-cognitive battery of emotion processing.

Negative symptom improvement during cognitive rehabilitation: results from a 2-year trial of Cognitive Enhancement Therapy.

Cognitive rehabilitation has shown beneficial effects on cognition in patients with schizophrenia, which may also help to improve negative symptoms due to overlapping pathophysiology between these two domains. To better understand the possible relationship between these areas, we conducted an exploratory analysis of the effects of Cognitive Enhancement Therapy (CET) on negative symptoms. Early course schizophrenia outpatients (n=58) were randomized to 2 years of CET or an Enriched Supportive Therapy (EST) control condition.

Cognitive enhancement therapy for adults with autism spectrum disorder: results of an 18-month feasibility study.

Adults with autism experience significant impairments in social and non-social information processing for which few treatments have been developed. This study conducted an 18-month uncontrolled trial of Cognitive Enhancement Therapy (CET), a comprehensive cognitive rehabilitation intervention, in 14 verbal adults with autism spectrum disorder to investigate its feasibility, acceptability, and initial efficacy in treating these impairments. Results indicated that CET was satisfying to participants, with high treatment attendance and retention.

Brief report: is cognitive rehabilitation needed in verbal adults with autism? Insights from initial enrollment in a trial of cognitive enhancement therapy.

Cognitive rehabilitation is an emerging set of potentially effective interventions for the treatment of autism spectrum disorder, yet the applicability of these approaches for "high functioning" adults who have normative levels of intelligence remains unexplored. This study examined the initial cognitive performance characteristics of 40 verbal adults with autism enrolled in a pilot trial of Cognitive Enhancement Therapy to investigate the need for cognitive rehabilitation in this population. Results revealed marked and broad deficits across neurocognitive and social-cognitive domains, despite above-average IQ.

A broad cortical reserve accelerates response to cognitive enhancement therapy in early course schizophrenia.

Objectives: Cognitive rehabilitation can improve cognition in schizophrenia and prevent disability. It is unknown, however, whether a greater neurobiologic reserve, as measured by cortical volumes, will predict a favorable response to rehabilitation. We investigated this question in early course schizophrenia patients treated with Cognitive Enhancement Therapy (CET).

Effects of Cognitive Enhancement Therapy on Employment Outcomes in Early Schizophrenia: Results From a Two-Year Randomized Trial.

Objective: To examine the effects of psychosocial cognitive rehabilitation on employment outcomes in a randomized controlled trial for individuals with early course schizophrenia.

Method: Early course schizophrenia outpatients ( = 58) were randomly assigned to Cognitive Enhancement Therapy (CET) or an Enriched Supportive Therapy (EST) control and treated for two years. Comprehensive data on cognition and employment were collected annually.

Is cognitive enhancement therapy equally effective for patients with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder?

Patients with schizoaffective disorder (SZA) experience significant deficits in cognitive functioning similar to those seen in patients with schizophrenia (SZ), which are associated with poor functional outcomes. Cognitive remediation (CR) has shown promise in improving cognitive and functional outcomes in patients with SZ: however, no studies have compared these effects across diagnoses. We compared patients with SZ and SZA after cognitive enhancement therapy (CET) or enriched supportive therapy (EST).

One-year durability of the effects of cognitive enhancement therapy on functional outcome in early schizophrenia.

Cognitive rehabilitation is an effective intervention for addressing cognitive impairments in patients with schizophrenia. Previous research has shown that the early application of Cognitive Enhancement Therapy (CET) can improve neurocognitive and social-cognitive deficits in the early course of the disorder, and ultimately reduce the substantial functional disability that these patients experience. However, the lasting effects of CET on functional outcome in early course schizophrenia patients remain unknown.

Neuroprotective effects of cognitive enhancement therapy against gray matter loss in early schizophrenia: results from a 2-year randomized controlled trial.

Context: Cognitive rehabilitation has shown efficacy in improving cognition in patients with schizophrenia but the underlying neurobiologic changes that occur during these treatments and support cognitive improvement are not well known.

Objective: To examine differential changes in brain morphology in early course schizophrenia during cognitive rehabilitation vs supportive therapy.

Design: Randomized controlled trial.

Cognitive enhancement therapy for early-course schizophrenia: effects of a two-year randomized controlled trial.

Objective: The early application of cognitive rehabilitation may afford long-term functional benefits to patients with schizophrenia. This study examined the two-year effects of an integrated neurocognitive and social-cognitive rehabilitation program, cognitive enhancement therapy (CET), on cognitive and functional outcomes in early-course schizophrenia.

Methods: Early-course outpatients (mean+/-SD illness duration=3.

Cognitive enhancement therapy improves emotional intelligence in early course schizophrenia: preliminary effects.

This research examined the preliminary effects of Cognitive Enhancement Therapy (CET) on social cognition in early course schizophrenia, using an objective, performance-based measure of emotional intelligence. Individuals in the early course of schizophrenia were randomly assigned to either CET (n=18) or Enriched Supportive Therapy (n=20), and assessed at baseline and after 1 year of treatment with the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test. A series of analyses of covariance showed highly significant (p=.