Cognitive remediation in schizophrenia—The view from India

• Cognitive remediation programs improve several cognitive deficits in schizophrenia.
• Indian researchers evaluated different interventions for cost effective cognitive remediation models.
• Yoga is the most frequently published cognitive enhancement therapy.
• Yoga may help in improving cognition in schizophrenia and other mental illnesses.
• Yoga may have other benefits which need to be researched.

The prevalence and disability due to Schizophrenia (SZ) in India is similar to other parts of the world. Cognitive impairments are also present in a large group of Indian persons with SZ. Interventions to address these impairments – termed cognitive remediation or cognitive retraining – are being tested all over the world. Indian research on remediation in schizophrenia has been eclectic and is reviewed here. Some investigators have focused mainly on symptom control and quality of life, as yoga could be a cost effective and culturally acceptable intervention for remediation and rehabilitation. Although participants were not exhaustively tested for improvement in cognitive function in the majority of such trials, published results are encouraging.