Abstract
Cognition has a significant impact on the course and functional outcome of schizophrenia. Disorder outcome can be affected by drug treatment only indirectly; drugs have a limited effect on cognitive functions.
Computer programs are frequently used in rehabilitation of cognitive deficit. There is an open, eight-week study conducted in the CNS, investigating effects of computer-assisted rehabilitation with Bracy's PSS CogReHab program on cognition in schizophrenia.
First results in 12 subjects (6 males and 6 females) indicate improvement in some neuropsychological tests, reproduction of Rey-Osterrieth Figure after 3 min (p = 0.024) and in the WCST: decreased number of administered cards (p = 0.005), lower number of total errors (p = 0.04), non-perseverative errors (p = 0.02) and improvement in the percentage of conceptual response level (p = 0.04). Other positive findings include improvement of patients social life and immediate feedback, own control of action.
Preliminary results suggest that more attention should be focused on rehabilitation of working and long-term memory and verbal parameters.