Emotional Intelligence in Schizophrenia and Bipolar I Disorder

Scientific Background Emotional Intelligence (EI) as a part of social cognition is a rather new area of interest which focuses on personality traits and abilities enabling people to cope with both their own feelings as well as those of others. The "Mayer-Salovey-Caruso-Emotional-Intelligence-Test" (MSCEIT) (1) represents a valid and reliable instrument which exclusively covers the emotional components of social cognition. Recent findings indicate, that social cognitive impairments are useful vulnerability indicators and that EI could be an endophenotype for schizophrenia and bipolar I disorder (BD I). To confirm the endophenotype theory, studies concerning EI in relatives of schizophrenia and bipolar patients are needed. To date, studies on EI in BD patients as well as in first degree relatives of patients with schizophrenia or BD haven`t been conducted yet. Accordingly, the current study focuses on the four categories assessed by the MSCEIT and aims to compare the task performance of patients, their first degree relatives and healthy control subjects. We assume that the task performance of relatives lies between that of patients and controls. The confirmation of this assumption would verify the trait marker hypothesis and could be a next step to identify a heritable endophenotype for schizophrenia and BD. Hypotheses Compared to healthy control subjects patients suffering from schizophrenia or BD I show deficits in EI. Siblings of patients with schizophrenia or BD I show deficits in EI and their task performance lies between that of patients and healthy controls. Deficits in EI are more pronounced in schizophrenia patients than in patients with BD I and are more pronounced in siblings of schizophrenia patients than in siblings of patients with BD I. Independently of diagnosis, deficits in EI affect patients` functional and subjective outcomes. Methods Emotional Intelligence will be examined using the MSCEIT in patients with schizophrenia, siblings of schizophrenia patients, patients with BD I, siblings of BD I patients and healthy volunteers matched for age, sex, and educational level. Structured clinical interviews according to DSM-IV (M.I.N.I. + SCID II) will be carried out to assure the diagnosis of schizophrenia or bipolar disorder as well as to detect (comorbid) Axis I and Axis II psychiatric disorders (patients, siblings, control subjects). Functional outcome will be assessed by using the GAF (Global Assessment of Functioning Scale) and the PSP (Personal and Social Performance Scale), subjective quality of life will be examined using the BELP (Berliner Lebensqualiätsprofil). The MWT-B (Multiple choice vocabulary test) will be used to assess premorbid intelligence. 1. Mayer JD, Salovey P, Caruso DR, Sitarenios G. Measuring emotional intelligence with the MSCEIT V2.0. Emotion. 2003;3(1):97-105. Epub 2003/08/06.

Emotional Intelligence (EI) refers to the ability enabling people to experience, express, perceive, and understand own feelings as well as those of others. Previous studies using the Mayer?Salovey?Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT) to measure EI performance in patients suffering from schizophrenia or bipolar disorder (BD) have found consistent impairments compared to healthy control subjects. The primary objective of the current study was to investigate the influence of non?social cognition on the group difference in EI between patients and healthy subjects by using the MSCEIT and the Brief Assessment of Cognition in Schizophrenia (BACS). Similar to the findings of previous studies schizophrenia patients achieved significantly lower MSCEIT total scores and also performed significantly worse compared to control subjects in three out of four MSCEIT branches (using, understanding, and managing emotions). Furthermore, patients showed significant deficits in non? social cognition compared to control subjects. Notably, adjustment for cognitive abilities substantially diminished the difference in EI performance between patients and control subjects leaving only the difference in the managing emotions branch of the MSCEIT significant. Accordingly, only the managing emotions branch was found to be independent of non?social cognition. Mediation analysis revealed that the difference in the MSCEIT total score between schizophrenia patients and control subjects was almost fully attributable to the mediating effect of non?social cognition, i.e., non?social cognition was largely responsible for poorer MSCEIT performance in schizophrenia patients (Frajo? Apor, Pardeller, Kemmler, Welte, & Hofer, 2016). Similar results were found in patients suffering from BD (Frajo?Apor, Kemmler, Pardeller, Plass, et al., 2017).We also investigated whether EI (measured with the MSCEIT) is impaired in unaffected siblings of patients suffering from schizophrenia and whether it may constitute a potential endophenotype for schizophrenia. Against our expectations, task performance of siblings and control subjects did not differ in the four branches of EI and the MSCEIT total score, thereby indicating intact EI in non?affected relatives of schizophrenia patients (Frajo?Apor, Kemmler, Pardeller, Huber, et al., 2017). In a next step, we will now test whether EI represents a marker of risk for BD.Lastly, we investigated the relationship between EI and non?social cognition in healthy adults with a special focus on potential sex differences. While males and females were comparable with regard to EI, men outperformed women with regard to non?social cognition. Verbal fluency significantly predicted EI, whereas the MSCEIT branch understanding emotions significantly predicted non?social cognitive performance. Overall, these findings support previous research and emphasize the relevance of considering non?social cognition when assessing ability EI in healthy individuals (Pardeller, Frajo? Apor, Kemmler, & Hofer, 2016).