Objectives: Methamphetamine (MA) abuse is associated with neurocognitive impairment. We investigated whether important aspects of social-cognitive function are similarly disrupted.
Methods: A total of 12 adults with a history of MA dependence (average duration of use, 3.9 years), currently engaged in rehabilitation and abstinent for an average period of 6 months, and 12 MA naive participants completed measures of facial affect recognition, theory of mind, executive function and memory.
Results: MA users were impaired on the measures of facial affect recognition and theory of mind (ds = 1.75 and 2.32, respectively), with the magnitude of these deficits comparable or larger to those observed on the cognitive measures.
Conclusions: Social-cognitive difficulties are associated with MA use and have potentially important implications for rehabilitative practice.