Introduction
psychotic illness, psychotic disorder, cognitive impairment, schizophrenia-spectrum, psychosis, first-episode psychotic disorder, cognitive improvements, cognitive impairments, psychotic disorders
Widespread cognitive impairments are a core feature of psychotic disorders, being present prior to [The causes of cognitive change in psychosis remain poorly understood. One contentious factor is the role of antipsychotic medication. It is unclear whether antipsychotics ameliorate, exacerbate, or have negligible effects on cognitive impairments and whether effects differ by medication type. Clinical trials investigating the cognitive effects of atypical antipsychotics in first-episode or recent-onset schizophrenia-spectrum samples have documented mild cognitive improvements over a 3-to-6-month period (regardless of antipsychotic type) [Most cognitive impairment seems to occur prior to or during the development of full-threshold psychotic disorder [The primary aim of this study was to disentangle the effects of psychotic illness from those of antipsychotic medication on cognition over the first 6 months of treatment for a first-episode psychotic disorder. We analysed cognition data collected within a randomised, triple-blind placebo-controlled trial [