Social cognitive impairment in patients with depression

Abstract

Social cognition is a valuable construct in understanding cognitive impairment in depression and well-known psycho-social difficulties. The article is critical towards the one-sided focus on non-social cognitive assessment in unipolar depression. A basic taxonomy for social cognition is presented including the following domains: decoding of emotional stimuli, representation of mental states and reflectivity.

An overview of scientific findings on social cognitive impairment in unipolar depression is presented as is the interdependence between social- and non-social cognition and social cognitive impairment and psycho-social difficulties.

Finally, psychotherapeutic and pharmacological interventions targeting social cognitive impairment are presented.