Emotional responding in deficit and non-deficit schizophrenia

Although emotional dysfunction is presumed to be a central part of the deficit syndrome in schizophrenia, it has not yet been empirically investigated in deficit and non-deficit patients. Emotional responding was examined in 19 male deficit patients, 22 non-deficit patients, and 20 non-patient controls. Patients participated in a semi-structured clinical interview that included questions from the Schedule for the Deficit Syndrome (SDS) and the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS), and then were then categorized into deficit and non-deficit groups. In addition, all participants viewed emotional films while their facial expressions were videotaped and then completed self-reports of emotional experience following each film. As predicted, deficit patients were less expressive than non-deficit patients and controls across the films. Contrary to prediction, deficit patients did not report experiencing less emotion to the films than non-deficit patients or controls. Thus, a disjunction in emotional responding appeared to characterize deficit patients, who were less expressive than controls but did not report less emotional experience. Alternative explanations for the findings are considered as are directions for future research.