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Facial emotional expression in schizophrenia adolescents during verbal interaction with a parent

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Abstract

Research on emotional expression in adult schizophrenia patients has indicated an impairment of the patients’ facial expressions during social interaction. However, it is unclear whether schizophrenia adolescent-onset patients show comparable disturbances in facial expression. Our aim was to analyze facial emotions in adolescents with schizophrenia spectrum psychoses compared with non-patient controls during a problem-solving discussion with their primary caregivers. We assessed facial expressions of emotions and speaker position (speaking vs. listening) in schizophrenia and non-patient adolescents matched for age and gender. The facial emotions were coded with the Emotional Facial Action Coding System. Schizophrenia adolescents showed significantly lower rates per minute of expressions indicating positive emotions compared with non-patient adolescents (β = −0.95, 95 % CI [−1.34, −0.57], t (37.92) = −5.00, p ≤ 0.001). In contrast, there was no lower rate of expressions indicating negative emotions of schizophrenia adolescents (β = 0.10, CI [−0.42, 0.61], t (35.03) = 0.38, p = 0.709). While the negative facial expressions of non-patient adolescents were related to speaking (β = 0.63, CI [0.34, 0.92], t (26) = 4.50, p = < 0.001), this relationship was not observed in schizophrenia adolescents. Our results indicated an emotion-specific impairment of positive facial expressions in schizophrenia adolescents early in the course of illness and a deviant relation between facial emotional expressions and speech.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported in part by grants from the German Research Foundation. The authors thank Birgit Leeb and Lena Herich for their assistance and support.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Martinistr. 52, 20246, Hamburg, Germany

    Annett Lotzin, Georg Romer & Brigitte Ramsauer

  2. Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany

    Barbara Haack-Dees

  3. Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany

    Franz Resch

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  1. Annett Lotzin
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Correspondence to Annett Lotzin.

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Lotzin, A., Haack-Dees, B., Resch, F. et al. Facial emotional expression in schizophrenia adolescents during verbal interaction with a parent. Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci 263, 529–536 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00406-012-0386-8

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