Browsing by Author "George, Sunita"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
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    Contrasting Metacognitive, Social Cognitive and Alexithymia Profiles in Adults with Borderline Personality Disorder, Schizophrenia and Substance Use Disorder
    (Elsevier, 2017-11) Lysaker, Paul H.; George, Sunita; Chaudoin-Patzoldt, Kelly A.; Pec, Ondrej; Bob, Petr; Leonhardt, Bethany L.; Vohs, Jenifer L.; James, Alison V.; Wickett, Amanda; Buck, Kelly D.; Dimaggio, Giancarlo; Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine
    Deficits in the ability to recognize and think about mental states are broadly understood to be a root cause of dysfunction in Borderline Personality Disorder (PD). This study compared the magnitude of those deficits relative to other forms of serious mental illness or psychiatric conditions. Assessments were performed using the metacognition assessment scale-abbreviated (MAS-A), emotion recognition using the Bell Lysaker Emotion Recognition Test and alexithymia using the Toronto Alexithymia Scale among adults with schizophrenia (n = 65), Borderline PD (n = 34) and Substance Use disorder without psychosis or significant Borderline traits (n = 32). ANCOVA controlling for age revealed the Borderline PD group had significantly greater levels of metacognitive capacity on the MAS-A than the schizophrenia group and significantly lower levels of metacognitive capacity than the Substance Use group. Multiple comparisons revealed the Borderline PD group had significantly higher self-reflectivity and awareness of the other's mind than the schizophrenia group but lesser mastery and decentration on the MAS-A than substance use group, after controlling for self-report of psychopathology and overall number of PD traits. The Borderline PD and Schizophrenia group had significantly higher levels of alexithymia than the substance use group. No differences were found for emotion recognition. Results suggest metacognitive functioning is differentially affected in different mental disorders.
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    An integrative model of the impairments in insight in schizophrenia: emerging research on causal factors and treatments
    (Taylor & Francis, 2016) Vohs, Jenifer L.; George, Sunita; Leonhardt, Bethany L.; Lysaker, Paul H.; Department of Psychiatry, IU School of Medicine
    Introduction: Poor insight, or unawareness of some major aspect of mental illness, is a major barrier to wellness when it interferes with persons seeking out treatment or forming their own understanding of the challenges they face. One barrier to addressing impaired insight is the absence of a comprehensive model of how poor insight develops. Areas covered: To explore this issue we review how poor insight is the result of multiple phenomena which interfere with the construction of narrative accounts of psychiatric challenges, rather than a single social or biological cause. Expert commentary: We propose an integrative model of poor insight in schizophrenia which involves the interaction of symptoms, deficits in neurocognition, social cognition, metacognition, and stigma. Emerging treatments for poor insight including therapies which focus on the development of metacognition are discussed.
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    The role of metacognitive self-reflectivity in emotional awareness and subjective indices of recovery in schizophrenia
    (Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins, 2016-12) Bonfils, Kelsey A.; Luther, Lauren; George, Sunita; Buck, Kelly D.; Lysaker, Paul H.; Psychology, School of Science
    Emotional awareness deficits in people with schizophrenia have been linked to poorer objective outcomes, but, no work has investigated the relationship between emotional awareness and subjective recovery indices or metacognitive self-reflectivity. We hypothesized that increased emotional awareness would be associated with greater self-esteem, hope, and self-reflectivity and that self-reflectivity would moderate links between emotional awareness and self-esteem and hope -- such that significant relationships would only be observed at lower levels of self-reflectivity. Participants were 56 people with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders. Correlations revealed that better emotional awareness was significantly associated with increased self-esteem and hope but not self-reflectivity. Self-reflectivity moderated the relationship between emotional awareness and self-esteem but not hope. Overall, findings suggest that emotional awareness may affect self-esteem for those low in self-reflectivity, but other factors may be important for those with greater self-reflectivity. Results emphasize the importance of interventions tailored to enhance self-reflective capacity in clients with schizophrenia.