Self-esteem in schizophrenic patients is low. Self-esteem is the most important factor in these patients improvement and music therapy enhances self-esteem.

This study has been conducted with the aim of examination the effect of music therapy on self-esteem of chronic schizophrenic patients.

In This experimental research regarding pilot study and inclusion criteria, 70 persons of male in-patient chronic schizophrenic patients were determined and allocated in 3 groups: experimental 1(24 persons), experimental 2(22 persons) and control group (24 persons) randomly. Music game was implemented in experimental group 1 and lyric analysis in experimental group 2 for one month, 12 sessions, lasting 45 minutes each. Demographic questionnaire and Coopersmith self-esteem Inventory were measured. In internal consistency assessment, chronbach’.α 0/84 and in test-retest reliability, pearson correlation coefficient 0/89 were determined. SPSS version 15 and one way ANOVA, paired t test, Chi-square, Kolmogorov-Smirnov, levene's tests were used for data analysis.

There was not significant difference between self-esteem of patients in experimental and control groups before music therapy and between experimental groups 1 and 2 after music therapy (P>0/05) whereas there was significant difference between experimental and control groups and in intervention groups 1 and 2 after music therapy (P< 0/05).

Music therapy enhances self-esteem in chronic schizophrenic patients and also there was not considerable change in self-esteem increase between music game and lyric analysis. These two types of music therapy can be used in enhancing self-esteem of these patients.

The question of the involvement of inflammatory and autoimmune processes in schizophrenia pathogenesis has become the most relevant in the last decade and yet is not fully understood.

The study included 60 patients with paranoid schizophrenia (age 18 - 55 y.o.) and 30 healthy control group participants. Patients were in a stabilization state without a history of organic brain disorder or another verified somatic disease in the exacerbation phase.

Research methods included follow-up method, neuropsychological (PANSS, BAC-S), laboratory (enzyme immunoassay, flow cytometry), and statistical.

Patients with schizophrenia had significant structural disorders of thinking, passive, apathetic withdrawal, negativism, impaired attention, psychomotor speed, volitional impulses. Cognitive impairment was detected in all study participants. Severe impairments are noted in the executive functioning, hand-eye coordination, attention, psychomotor speed. The severity of cognitive impairments correlated with the severity of clinical symptoms. Patients with schizophrenia had a significant decrease in central memory T-regulators levels, and an increase in Th1 and Th2 subsets, «double-positive» and «сlassic» Th17, Tfh2, «classic» Tfh17, and in Tfh17.1 (Pic.1).

Picture. 1. T-helper subsets in patients with schizophrenia. They also had high levels of CCL20, IL-10, IL-12, IL-1β, IL-27, IL-31, IL-4, IL-13, IL-6, IL-9, TNFα in comparison with a control group. A significantly decreased levels of IL-17A, IL-17F, IL-2, IL-22, and TNFβ were also described in this group of patients.

Patients with schizophrenia may be characterized by the presence of an inflammatory process and a high chance of autoimmunity. Aknowledgement. This work was supported by the grant of the Russian Federation Government, contract 14.W03.31.0009

No significant relationships.

Treatment-resistant schizophrenia (TRS) represents a major clinical issue, characterized by worse psychopathological outcome, a more disrupted neurobiological substrate and higher healthcare costs. Cognitive impairment is a core feature of schizophrenia, strongly associated with patients’ functional outcome. Different studies showed that TRS patients exhibit poorer neurocognitive performance, particularly on verbal domains. To date Cognitive Remediation Therapy (CRT) represents the best available tool for treating cognitive deficits in schizophrenia. However, CRT outcomes are highly heterogeneous and significant treatment predictors are still lacking.

To investigate possible differences of CRT outcome among patients with schizophrenia, stratified according to antipsychotic response (TRSs vs. first-line responders - FLRs).

150 patients with schizophrenia, (95 FLRs, 55 TRSs) were assessed for neurocognition with BACS and WCST at baseline and after CRT. General Linear Models (GLMs) were performed to investigate possible differences between groups on basal cognition and CRT outcome (Cohen’s d Effect Size).

At baseline, GLMs showed significant differences in Verbal Memory (F=4,66; p=0,03) and WCST–executive functions (F=5,59; p=0,02), both worse in TRS group. Effecr Sizes of CRT outcome resulted significantly different in domains of Verbal Memory (F=4,68; p=0,03) and WCST–executive functions (F=4,62; p=0,03), with greater improvements among TRS patients.

This is the first study to indicate treatment-resistance as a possible predictor of CRT outcome in schizophrenia. Moreover, we observed that CRT resulted able to fill the cognitive gap between treatment groups. Thus, these results further highlight the importance of early cognitive interventions in order to reduce the neuropsychological and functional burden associated with the disease, especially for TRS patients.

No significant relationships.