Theory of mind in schizophrenia

Mentalising impairment (an impaired ability to think about people in terms of their mental states) has frequently been associated with schizophrenia.

To assess the magnitude of the deficit and analyse associated factors. METHOD: Twenty-nine studies of mentalising in schizophrenia (combined n=1518), published between January 1993 and May 2006, were included to estimate overall effect size. Study descriptors predicted to influence effect size were analysed using weighted regression-analysis techniques. Separate analyses were performed for symptom subgroups and task types.

The estimated overall effect size was large and statistically significant (d=-1.255, P