SynthesisBMC psychiatry2021
A systematic review of the effects of psychiatric medications on social cognition.
Synthesis in BMC psychiatry, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 25 citations in OpenAlex.
- Emotion Processing and Its Relationship to Social Functioning and Symptoms in Psychotic Disorder: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.Schizophrenia bulletin · 2025Pooled it
- Long-term effects of mentalization-based treatment for psychotic disorder: a 5-year follow-up of a multi-center, randomized-controlled trial.Psychological medicine · 2026Trial
- Cue-induced inhibitory control in forensic patients with alcohol use disorder: A link to criminal recidivism risk assessed by factor 2 psychopathy.Addictive behaviors reports · 2026Article
- Community engagement and involvement in developing a community-based signposting tool for mental distress.Research involvement and engagement · 2026Article
- Eye Movement Abnormalities During the Gaze Perception Task in Individuals With Clinical High Risk for Psychosis: A Discriminant Analysis With Hidden Markov Models.Schizophrenia bulletin · 2026Article
- The link between basic visual processing and higher-level social cognition: Eye gaze perception as a bridge in a transdiagnostic sample enriched with social dysfunction.Psychological medicine · 2026Article
- Emotion recognition deficits in patients with skin picking disorder: the role of alexithymia while controlling depression, and anxiety levels.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- Biomarkers of cognitive and memory decline in psychotropic drug users.Journal of neural transmission (Vienna, Austria : 1996) · 2025Review
- Clinical practice guidelines for assessment and management of cognitive impairment in schizophrenia.Indian journal of psychiatry · 2025Article
- Content, implementation, and evaluation of capacity-strengthening initiatives for public and patient involvement in mental health research: a scoping review protocol informed by implementation science.HRB open research · 2025Article
- Article
- Definition, assessment and treatment of cognitive impairment associated with schizophrenia: expert opinion and practical recommendations.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2024Review
- Social Psychopharmacology: Novel Approaches to Treat Deficits in Social Motivation in Schizophrenia.Schizophrenia bulletin · 2023Review
- The effect of reading literary fiction on the theory of mind skills among persons with schizophrenia and normal controls.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2023Article
- European Psychiatric Association guidance on treatment of cognitive impairment in schizophrenia.European psychiatry : the journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists · 2022Review
- Pharmacological interventions for social cognitive impairments in schizophrenia: A protocol for a systematic review and network meta-analysis.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Article
- Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation on the Left Superior Temporal Sulcus Improves Social Cognition in Schizophrenia: An Open-Label Study.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionSocial cognition is an important area of mental functioning relevant to psychiatric disorders and social functioning, that may be affected by psychiatric drug treatments. The aim of this review was to investigate the effects of medications with sedative properties, on social cognition.
methodThis systematic review included experimental and neuroimaging studies investigating drug effects on social cognition. Data quality was assessed using a modified Downs and Black checklist (Trac et al. CMAJ 188: E120-E129, 2016). The review used narrative synthesis to analyse the data.
results40 papers were identified for inclusion, 11 papers investigating benzodiazepine effects, and 29 investigating antipsychotic effects, on social cognition. Narrative synthesis showed that diazepam impairs healthy volunteer's emotion recognition, with supporting neuroimaging studies showing benzodiazepines attenuate amygdala activity. Studies of antipsychotic effects on social cognition gave variable results. However, many of these studies were in patients already taking medication, and potential practice effects were identified due to short-term follow-ups.
conclusionHealthy volunteer studies suggest that diazepam reduces emotional processing ability. The effects of benzodiazepines on other aspects of social cognition, as well as the effects of antipsychotics, remain unclear. Interpretations of the papers in this review were limited by variability in measures, small sample sizes, and lack of randomisation. More robust studies are necessary to evaluate the impact of these medications on social cognition.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.