Schizophrenia, social skills and employment

Even with recommended treatments people with schizophrenia have problems looking after themselves, making and maintaining relationships and holding down jobs. Problems with social and communication skills have long been recognised to be a feature of schizophrenia but it is unclear how these problems are related to cognitive deficits and to everyday functioning. Researchers in Baltimore, U.S. compared people with schizophrenia who functioned well in the workplace with those who did less well. They found that social skills were significantly more impaired in those with poor vocational functioning and that people's levels of social skills were significantly associated with their verbal ability, processing speed and memory. However, even once all these factors had been taken into account social skill still had an independent effect on vocational performance.

Dickinson, Dwight, Bellack, Alan S. and Gold, James M. - Social/communication skills, cognition, and vocational functioning in schizophrenia Schizophrenia Bulletin September 2007 33(5), 1213-1220