Symptom severity and executive functioning in chronic schizophrenia: A correlational study

Background: Schizophrenia is a debilitating disease which involves positive, negative, and cognitive symptoms. Understanding their interplay can guide towards designing a tailored intervention approach. Aims/objectives: This study aimed to assess the correlation between executive functioning and symptom severity in chronic schizophrenia. Methods: A total of thirty people with chronic schizophrenia were chosen using the purposive sampling method. Their symptoms and executive functioning were measured using PANSS and M-WCST respectively. The correlation among these were calculated using Spearman’s rank order correlation. Result: The severity of negative symptoms and anergia in chronic schizophrenia was found to be significantly correlated with the executive functioning whereas the positive symptoms and other clusters such as paranoia, thought disturbance, activation and depression did not show any significant relationship. Conclusion: The major findings of this research was negative symptoms and anergia showed significant correlation with executive functioning of the individuals with chronic schizophrenia. It gives rise to the need of more holistic approach in intervention process to deal with all of these aspects simultaneously.