Facial emotion recognition in people with schizophrenia and a history of violence: a mediation analysis

In this study, we compared facial emotion recognition performance in age- and gender-matched schizophrenia spectrum disorders subjects with (N = 52) and without (N = 52) a history of violence. Data on current symptom severity, Cluster B personality status, past victimization, and alcohol and substance misuse were also collected. Compared to those without, subjects with a history of violence showed worse facial emotion recognition performances, involving a nger, fear, disgust, sadness, and happiness. When formally testing the reporting of angry faces, evidence of enhanced sensitivity to anger was not supported. Finally, when the impact of current symptoms was assessed, higher severity of activation symptoms, including motor hyperactivity, elevated moo d, excitement and distractibility, mediated the relationship between history of violence and poor facial emotion recognition performance. As a whole, our findings seem to support the role of perceptual deficits involving different emotions as well as of a mediation played by activation symptoms. Fac ial emotion recognition deficits associated with the propensity to violence, as well certain symptoms mediating their relationship, should be targeted by specific treatment approaches.
Source: European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience - Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research