Schizophrenia is a severe and debilitating disorder compromising multiple aspects of everyday functioning and quality of life, such as independent living, interpersonal relations and vocational functioning. Apart from premorbid functioning and psychopathological symptoms, social and non-social cognitive factors negatively influence functional outcomes in patients. On the other hand, recent research implicates specific types of biased thinking styles (e.g. jumping-to-conclusions, liberal acceptance) in at least some clinical dimensions of schizophrenia. So far, the impact of such cognitive biases on the functional outcome of the disorder has not been investigated.

The present study aimed to assess the relative contribution of cognitive biases and other well established factors, including psychopathology and neuropsychological deficits, on functional outcomes in patients with schizophrenia.

Participants were 160 inpatients with a DSM-IV diagnosis of schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder, recruited from the inpatient units of two University hospitals (Hamburg and Heidelberg). Key exclusion criteria were current substance dependence, severe brain damage, and IQ < 70. Patients were assessed at baseline on measures of

1. (a) premorbid IQ,

2. (b) psychopathology and severity of illness,

3. (c) cognitive biases,

4. (d) attention and verbal memory, and

5. (e) social cognition/Theory of Mind. Functional outcome at six months consisted in a composite factor computed from a quality-of-life measure (WHOQOL), as well as information on marital, housing and vocational status.

A multiple linear regression analysis was performed with functional outcome as dependent variable and the above-mentioned factors assessed at baseline as predictors. Results will be discussed.