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Reading simple and complex facial expressions in patients with major depressive disorder and anxiety disorders
Author(s) -
Yoon Sunkyung,
Kim Hyang Sook,
Kim JeongIn,
Lee Seunga,
Lee SeungHwan
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
psychiatry and clinical neurosciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.609
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1440-1819
pISSN - 1323-1316
DOI - 10.1111/pcn.12369
Subject(s) - major depressive disorder , psychology , facial expression , emotion recognition , anxiety , depression (economics) , audiology , clinical psychology , psychiatry , medicine , neuroscience , communication , mood , economics , macroeconomics
Aim Decoding facial expression is important for psychological well‐being. This study examined facial emotion recognition of simple/complex and pleasant/unpleasant emotions in patients with major depressive disorder ( MDD ) and anxiety disorders ( AnD ). Methods Patients with MDD ( n = 37), AnD ( n = 36) and healthy controls ( HC ) ( n = 40) participated in this study. The recognition accuracy of emotional faces was calculated. Results Patients with MDD had significantly lower recognition accuracy compared to HC . Patients with MDD exhibited lower recognition accuracy for simple emotions compared to patients with AnD and HC , and lower accuracy for complex emotions compared only to HC . Patients with AnD and HC showed comparable recognition accuracy for simple emotions, which were lower than that of patients with MDD . However, in recognition accuracy of complex emotions, AnD was not significantly different from either MDD or HC . Conclusions Patients with MDD and AnD have a distinctive difficulty with the recognition of facial expressions. The recognition of complex emotions in patients with MDD and AnD should be studied further.