ABSTRACT
Background-Schizophrenia is a complex, heterogeneous behavioural and cognitive syndrome whose origins appear to lie in genetic and/or environmental disruption of brain development, Cognitive functions are required to perform in the spheres of personal, social, and occupational activities of everyday life. .Restoring cognitive function or bypassing cognitive impairment could significantly contribute to better outcome and recovery in schizophrenia. Aim-. To assess the cognitive functions in patients with schizophrenia and To study the relationship between cognition and disease severity Methods-Cross sectional study done on 50 patients with schizophrenia visiting SDM hospital Dharwad, disease severity measured using PANSS, and cognitive assesment using BACS Result-. The Brief Assessment of Cognition in Schizophrenia (BACS) assessed the aspects of cognition found to be most impaired and most strongly correlated with outcome in patients with schizophrenia Conclusion-Cognitive functions are responsible for better day to day functioning and are related to functioning impairment in everyday living skills;hence by improving cognition, patient's functioning in everyday living skills may improve, giving them a better chance of vocational and independent living success.