Toward a Noonan syndrome specific social cognitive training

Objective: The neuropsychological profile of patients with Noonan syndrome (NS) is characterised by lowered processing speed and impairments in social cognition (SC). Treatment of SC deficits has proven to be effective in other neuropsychiatric populations. The aim of this study is to perform a systematic review and to incorporate the results in a new, customised intervention protocol for the improvement of SC in patients with NS. Participants and Methods: Controlled studies on SC interventions for adults with neuropsychiatric disorders, published between 1-1-2003 up to 1-1-2015, were identified through a systematic literature search in PubMed, Web of Knowledge, and PsycINFO databases. Results: From the initial 4.565 hits, 101 full-text articles were assessed for eligibility, and 34 articles were included in the review. Studies predominantly focused on patients with schizophrenia (n=25), acquired brain injury (n=5), and autism (n=4). u0027Simpleu0027 SC processes like emotion recognition were the main intervention targets. Treatment duration and intensity were highly variable (1-56 sessions; 1 week-2 years). Group size ranged from 1 to 12 patients, with an average of 5. Conclusions: As patients with NS show deficits in the perception, interpretation, and expression of social-emotional information, a comprehensive approach seems most appropriate to improve SC in this group. Therefore, besides training of emotion recognition and theory-of-mind strategies, a specific SC treatment for adults with NS should also address problems in the identification and verbalization of (own) emotions. A training protocol comprising the aforementioned elements will be presented.