Investigating the effects of verbal communicationdisturbance and nonverbal sensitivity on socialfunctioning in schizophrenia patients

Aim: In interpersonal interaction, the ability to perceive and use non-verbal cues is as important as verbal communication skills. It is known that patients with schizophrenia have difficulties in verbal and non-verbal communication. This study aims to compare schizophrenia patients with the healthy control group in terms of their perception of verbal cues and verbal communication difficulties. In addition, it aims to investigate how nonverbal communication sensitivity and verbal communication difficulties affect social functionality in both groups. Method: 38 schizophrenia patients and 40 healthy controls participated in the study. Digit span test, Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-5-Disorder (SCID-5-CV), Mini Profile of Nonverbal Sensitivity (Mini-PONS), Social Functioning Scale (SFS), Communication Disturbances Index (CDI) were applied to all participants. In addition, The Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and Calgary Depression Scale for Schizophrenia (CDSS) were applied to the schizophrenia group and HAM-D was applied to the control group. Results: SFS and Mini-PONS total scores were higher in healthy individuals and speech errors determined by CDI were higher in the schizophrenia group. Healthy people were found more successful in all channels of Mini- PONS. While there was a correlation between the CDI and Mini-PONS total scores in the schizophrenia patients with the total scores of the SFS, this relationship could not be shown in the healthy group. In the regression analysis, the factors affecting the total scores of SFS were analyzed in 4 different models. In 3 models, the effect of PANSS total score and Mini-PONS total scores on SFS was found statistically significant. Conclusion: Based on these findings, it was found that the patients with schizophrenia had lower nonverbal sensitivity than healthy individuals, and made more errors in their speech than healthy individuals. Considering the effects of difficulties in both areas on social functionality, there is a need for future psychosocial interventions to be concentrated on these two areas. Keywords: Nonverbal sensitivity, Social perception, Verbal communication difficulties, Social functionality, Schizophrenia