Comparing jumping to conclusion and personalization biases in schizophrenic patients with and without medication therapy

Introduction: Previous studies have reported contradicting results about the effect of medication therapy on attribution bias and jumping to conclusion (JTC) bias in schizophrenic patients. This study aims at analyzing the effect of medication on attribution bias and JTC bias in schizophrenic patients. Methods: This study is an ex post facto and casual-comparative research. 28 people including 14 schizophrenic patients, who have not used drugs already, and 14 schizophrenic patients, who have used drugs at least for past 4 weeks, were selected and they did not show any significant difference in terms of age, gender and education level. Computer-based similarities task and Internal-Personal-Situational Attributions questionnaire were used for analyzing jumping to conclusion bias and attribution bias, respectively. Results: The independent T-test was used to analyze data. The results showed that schizophrenic patients, who had used drug at least for 4 weeks, gained higher scores in similarities task in contrast to patients, who did not use drugs; however, they did not show any significant difference in score of personalization subscale in Internal-Personal-Situational Attributions Questionnaires. Conclusion: Jumping to conclusion bias was reduced after medication therapy, so it is a postural trait whereas personalization bias was not reduced by medication therapy, so it is a character-based trait.