Related Experiment Videos
Flat affect in schizophrenia does not reflect diminished subjective experience of emotion
A M Kring1, S L Kerr, D A Smith
1Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee 37240.
Journal of Abnormal Psychology
|November 1, 1993
Summary
Schizophrenia patients show less outward emotional expression but report experiencing emotions similarly to others. This suggests blunted affect may not reflect true feelings in schizophrenia.
Area of Science:
- Psychiatry
- Clinical Psychology
- Neuroscience
Background:
- Affective features in schizophrenia are historically noted but under-researched.
- Discrepancies between emotional experience and expression are frequently reported in schizophrenia.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between emotional experience and expression in medication-free individuals with schizophrenia.
- To compare emotional expressivity and experience in schizophrenic patients versus healthy controls.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a comprehensive assessment of emotion.
- Studied a sample of individuals with schizophrenia who were not taking medication.
- Assessed emotional experience and facial expression during emotion-eliciting film stimuli.
Main Results:
- Individuals with schizophrenia exhibited significantly reduced facial expressivity for both positive and negative emotions compared to controls.
- Despite reduced outward expression, schizophrenic patients reported experiencing comparable levels of positive and negative emotions.
Conclusions:
- The blunted affect observed in some individuals with schizophrenia may not accurately represent their internal emotional experience.
- Findings support the need for further research into an inhibition hypothesis to explain emotional processing in schizophrenia.