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Background: Different studies have proposed the cognitive deficits as one of the main aspects of schizophrenia furthermore, the presence of psychosis in these patients can influence the degree of deficiency in executive functions .The purpose of this study is to compare the executive function in patients with schizophrenia, non-psychotic major depression and normal individuals. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 28 patients with schizophrenia, 28 patients with non-psychotic major depression and 28 normal subjects were selected from hospitals in Tehran through available sampling method which were matched according to age, sex, and level of education. The executive functions of subjects were evaluated using Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, and data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA and Turkey post-hoc test. Results: Schizophrenic patients had poorer performance in comparison with non-psychotic depressives and normal individuals in all variables of Wisconsin test (P<0.001). Also, depressive patients showed more preservative error than normal subjects (P<0.001), but no significant difference was found between the two groups in the number of categories and specific error variables. Conclusion: Greater impairment in the executive functions in the Wisconsin card sorting test is mainly associated with psychosis which might be introduced as a special profile of schizophrenia. Noticing the amount of deficiency in executive functions in each group of patients, the positive or negative prognosis can be diagnosed initially.

Keywords: Executive Function, Non-Psychotic Major Depression, Schizophrenia, Wisconsin Card Sorting Test

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