Mood disorders in left and right brain-damaged patients: comparison between ratings and self-ratings on the same...

In the context of recent developments of the lateralization model of emotions, this study investigates the intensity of depressive mood in left (LBD) and right (RBD) unilateral brain-damaged patients, comparing expression and experience of negative emotion through rating and self-rating scales. Seventeen BD inpatients (6 LBD, 8 RBD and 3 neurological patients without lesions) completed the Zerssen 28-item mood scale a few days after their admission to hospital. During the same period, 2 nurses, one working during the morning, the other during the afternoon and 1 clinician, a neuropsychiatrist, under the instruction of rating the patient mood state, completed independently the same mood scale. Results show that there is a strong agreement among the self-rating and the observers' total scores, which is high between the clinician and the patient but less strong between the 2 nurses and each nurse and the patient. Morever, self-rating scores are significantly different from those attributed by observers. The comparison between LBD and RBD showed that LBD rated themselves as more depressed than RBD, but the differences were statistically significant in the case of the clinician ratings only. These results have been interpreted with reference to methodological problems rather than in terms of a possible discrepancy between expression and experience of affect.