Psychosocial functioning in the balance between autism and psychosis: evidence from three populations.

ABSTRACT: Functional impairment is a core feature of both autism and schizophrenia spectrum disorders. While diagnostically independent, they can co-occur in the same individual at both the trait and diagnostic levels. The effect of such co-occurrence is hypothesized to worsen functional impairment. The diametric model, however, suggests that the disorders are etiologically and phenotypically diametrical, representing the extreme of a unidimensional continuum of cognition and behavior. A central prediction of this model is that functional impairment would be attenuated in individuals with mixed symptom expressions or genetic liability to both disorders. We tested this hypothesis in two clinical populations and one healthy population. In individuals with chronic schizophrenia and in individuals with

SUBMITTER: Abu-Akel A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9205777 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature