Features and results of the diagnosis of disorders of social and emotional intelligence of patients with schizophrenia at an early stage of the disease

Aim. The aim of the paper was to study the specifics of diagnosing disorders of social and emotional intelligence of patients with schizophrenia at an early stage of the disease (mainly by projective methods) and to determine, thanks to the diagnosis, the targets of psychocorrectional effects.

Methods. 64 people were studied (40 men and 24 women, average age 28 years). The experimental group included patients with a verified diagnosis of schizophrenia (F20) at an early stage of the disease (33 people, 21 men and 12 women) aged 16 to 37 years (average age 29 years), the control group of a similar age and gender structure — mentally healthy persons (31 people, 19 men and 12 women, average age 28 years). As research methods the following tests were used: (1) Methodology “G. Rorschach’s Ink Spot Test” (The Rorschach Inkblot Test, 1921); (2) Test “Understanding the mental state of the eyes” — Reading the mind in the Eyes (Baron-Cohen et al., 2001) — a modified version of E.E. Rumyantseva (2016); (3) Test “Social Intelligence” by J. Guildford, M. Sulliven (adaptation by E.S. Mikhailova, 1996); (4) Methodology “Emotional Intelligence” by J. Mayer, P. Salovei and D. Caruso (MSCEIT V2.0, 2014); (5) Test of emotional intelligence of Lucin (EmIn); (6) Hall emotional intelligence test. Data Processing Methods: John Exner Integrative System (Exner, 1997, 2003).

Results. It was found that patients with schizophrenia, even at an early stage of the course of the disease, are worse at solving problems to assess the success of social functioning.

Conclusions. The most significant and reliable differences (reliable by the U-criterion, at p ≤0.001) are found when schizophrenic patients perform tasks related to the characteristics of perception and analysis not so much of the social stimuli themselves, as by their nuancing. The structure of violations of social functioning is also dominated by difficulties in predicting both their further actions and the interlocutor. Determined by the decrease in general social incompetence is the practically reduced possibility of using emotions and their manifestations in solving “social” problems.