Facial expression of schizophrenic patients and their interaction partners

In his earlier works, one of the present investigators attempted to show that psychologically disturbed persons may be characterized by their tendency to induce their social partners to reveal relatively stable and constant leitmotivs, inclinations to react, emotions and fantasies; hence, it should be possible to describe psychological illnesses by means of the patient's specific interaction strategies (Krause 1988; Krause and Lütolf 1988). We assume that this process of induction is neither deliberate nor self-reflective. Inductive modes of behavior are viewed as part of an unconscious process of problem solving--a process, however, which is unsuccessful, since it is no longer appropriate to the reality of the adult patient. The present paper is part of a more comprehensive research project, the object of which is to account for these kinds of interactive strategies.