ABSTRACT
Schizophrenia may manifest itself in a variety of ways at the workplace. Because people with schizophrenia often have poor social competence, as reflected by difficulties they experience in social cognition (i.e., the ability to perceive important social information during interactions with others) (Penn, Corrigan, Bentall, Racenstein, & Newman, 1997) and social skill (Bellack, Morrison, Wixted, & Mueser, 1990), the disorder may be apparent in problematic social interactions at the workplace. Common ways in which these social impairments may present themselves include awkwardness when conversing with others (e.g., co-workers), apparent lack
of responsiveness during social interactions (due to common symptoms in schizophrenia such as a blunted facial expression, a monotonous voice tone, and minimal amount of speech), difficulty picking up the nuances of nonverbal or paralinguistic communication (such as a customer who appears anxious about a product and needs reassurance), high levels of anxiety when talking with others (e.g., supervisors), and avoidance of social interactions, especially when a conflict or the possibility of a conflict is present (Mueser & Liberman, 1988). Misunderstandings may easily occur because of the diminished expressiveness of people with schizophrenia when others misinterpret this to mean they are less concerned and interested than they really are (J. J. Blanchard, Mueser, & Bellack, 1998). Social difficulties at the workplace may result in the individual, as well as others with whom the person interacts, feeling uncomfortable.
