Virtual Reality Training for Social Skills in Schizophrenia - Comparison With Cognitive Training
Schizophrenia, Schizo Affective Disorder, Social Skills
About this trial
This is an interventional basic science trial for Schizophrenia focused on measuring schizophrenia, social skills training, social brain network, virtual reality, simulation, functional outcome
Eligibility Criteria
Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria for Individuals with Schizophrenia:
Inclusion criteria:
- Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-5 (DSM-5) Axis 1 Diagnosis of schizophrenia
- Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence (WASI) intelligence quotient (IQ) > 90
- Currently taking antipsychotic medication
- No change in current psychotropic medications or housing within the past 30 days. Those patients whose medication or housing situation has changed within a month, we will wait list them until their situation stabilizes.
Exclusion criteria:
- DSM 5 Axis 1 diagnosis other than schizophrenia
- Diagnosed organic brain disease, brain lesions, history of head traumas, neurological disorders or other conditions that involve the degeneration of the central nervous system (e.g. multiple sclerosis)
- Substance/alcohol dependence during the past 1 year
- Tardive dyskinesia
- Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria for Healthy Control Participants:
Inclusion Criteria:
- WAIS IQ > 90.
- No DSM-5 Axis 1 diagnosis of psychotic disorders in themselves or their families (e.g. schizophrenia, bipolar disorder).
- No antipsychotic medications
- No diagnosed organic brain disease, brain lesions, history of head traumas, neurological disorders or other conditions that involve the degeneration of the central nervous system (e.g. multiple sclerosis)
- No substance/alcohol dependence during the past 1 year
Sites / Locations
- Vanderbilt UniversityRecruiting
Arms of the Study
Arm 1
Arm 2
Arm 3
Active Comparator
Other
No Intervention
VR Social Skills Training
Cognitive training game
Healthy Controls
Participants will undergo a virtual reality social skills training program for 10 sessions. Each session takes about an hour. Participants visit the lab twice a week. Therefore, the training duration is 5 weeks.
If there is a significant improvement in social skills for the active treatment condition, the reason might be that the participants were exposed to social environment by coming to the lab and interacting with the research staff twice a week for 5 weeks and/or they used a computerized training tool twice a week for 5 weeks. In order to control for these potential confounds, we included a cognitive training arm. Participants will undergo a commercially available cognitive training program for ten 1-hour sessions (twice a week for 5 weeks).
Healthy controls are recruited to yield comparison data. They do not undergo training.