ABSTRACT
Neuropsychology plays a vital role in the treatment of persons with schizophrenia, as the field’s practitioners are frequently asked to assist X. t with complex differential diagnostic questions and provide useful recommendations for treatment planning. Generally speaking, referral sources are interested in one’s current level of functioning relative to an estimated premor-bid level of functioning, a characterization of neurocognitive abilities (strengths and weaknesses), and recommendations that can optimize treatment efforts. There is marked heterogeneity concerning the neurocognitive dysfunction found within schizophrenia (Reichenberg & Harvey, 2007), and these cognitive deficits have demonstrated ecological validity in predicting clinical (Green, 1998) and functional outcomes (Twamley et al., 2002). Inherently, these cases are complex as the neurocognitive profiles of individuals with schizophrenia are not only heterogeneous, but also often obfuscated by a host of comorbidities such as substance abuse, affective distress, and neurological and/or medical disorders other than schizophrenia, as covered in this volume. Thus, neuro-psychologists are often faced with the daunting task of teasing out, or accounting for, these comorbid factors in their clinical interpretations. One of the more complex, and perhaps less researched, challenges that neuropsychologists working within psychiatric settings are faced with involves accounting for the impact of developmental disabilities on cognitive functioning in schizophrenia. As schizophrenia is itself a neurodevelopmental disorder, the clinician is faced with an etiological conundrum when considering co-existing or historical diagnoses of other developmental disabilities such as learning disorders, intellectual disability, and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Not only do these disorders show a higher prevalence in persons with schizophrenia, but also the prodromal stage of schizophrenia may be phenotypically-similar to the manifestation of these other developmental disorders.
