SIPS 2026 DC

The distinction between schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder is debated in psychiatry circles. Yet, there is not a lot of consistency in the application of this distinction in research. This study examines how schizoaffective disorder is handled in contemporary schizophrenia research, focusing on whether it is included, excluded, or combined with schizophrenia in study samples and analyses. Particular attention is given to how mood symptoms, which are central to the diagnostic distinction, are measured and incorporated into analytic decisions. Preliminary screening suggests substantial variation in diagnostic handling and limited justification for these choices. By documenting current practices, this study aims to clarify how diagnostic distinctions are operationalized in practice and to inform more transparent and consistent reporting and analytic approaches in future psychosis research.

Cognitive flexibility is widely studied across psychological literature. Yet, it is operationalized in markedly different ways. Neurobehavioral research typically indexes flexibility via performance-based measures of set-shifting or task-switching, whereas cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and related clinical traditions conceptualize flexibility in terms of belief updating, reappraisal, or psychological adaptability, often assessed through self-report measures. Drawing on insights from a scoping review of cognitive flexibility in schizophrenia, this lightning talk highlights how the shared label obscures theoretical and measurement heterogeneity, while empirical links between these operationalizations are rarely examined. I argue that this lack of systematic disambiguation limits overall inference, complicates evidence synthesis, and risks inappropriate generalizations across studies. I propose a few recommendations: explicit construct tagging at first use, operationalization-first reporting, restricting cross-tradition generalization, justifying joint measurement when integration is claimed, and separating evidence syntheses by operationalization, rather than aggregating under a shared label.