Social Cognitive Deficits: Impact on Psychosocial Function and Novel Treatment Opportunities in Major Depressive Disorder

This chapter examines current literature regarding the impact of social cognition on psychosocial functioning in major depressive disorder, as well as potential treatment opportunities. Impairments of social cognition influence psychosocial functioning in the key domains of social performance, emotional/empathic performance, general cognitive functioning, and quality of life. Multiple treatment modalities have been used to target these difficulties, including antidepressant medication, psychotherapeutic approaches, and procedural interventions. Studies assess treatment efficacy based on the impact on facial affect recognition, interpretation of affective pictures, theory of mind performance, and prosody. Many current therapies are shown to have a normalizing effect for accuracy of interpretation and reduction in underlying negative interpretative bias. In particular, certain antidepressants seem to correct facial affect recognition deficits, while several psychotherapeutic approaches appear well suited for addressing impaired theory of mind or mood-congruent interpretative biases.