UC San Diego

Research identifying the effects of cognitive training on negative symptoms of psychosis is limited. We examined the effects of Compensatory Cognitive Training (CCT) on expressive deficits and social amotivation in a randomized controlled trial comparing CCT to standard pharmacotherapy alone in 43 individuals with psychosis. ANCOVA analyses demonstrated significant CCT-associated effects on both expressive deficits and social amotivation. Moreover, improvements in both sub-domains were associated with improvements in global life satisfaction, with improvements in social amotivation also related to increased social contact. CCT appears to be a beneficial treatment approach for improving multiple aspects of negative symptoms.