medigraphic.com
ISSN 0185-3325 (Print)
Órgano Oficial del Instituto Nacional de Psiquiatría Ramón de la Fuente Muñiz

2013, Number 2

Next >>

Salud Mental 2013; 36 (2)

Recognition of facial expression of the emotions and their relation to attachment styles and psychiatric symptoms. Preliminary study on Psychiatric Residents

Arango MI, Brüne M, Fresán A, Ortega FV, Villanueva J, Saracco R, Muñoz-Delgado J

Language: English
References: 27
Page: 95-100
PDF size: 222.27 Kb.


ABSTRACT

Facial expressions of emotion reveal complex mental states that have physiological correlates and signal internal states such as distress to others and are thus crucial in social interaction. In this preliminary study, we therefore sought to examine the link between current psychiatric symptoms and attachment styles in psychiatry residents and their ability to correctly identify facial expressions of emotions. Specifically, we hypothesized that greater current psychiatric symptoms and insecure attachment would be related to difficulties in deciphering facial expressions of negative emotions. A total of 56 psychiatry residents were included in the study, together with 50 university students pursuing careers unrelated to mental health. In order to evaluate the subjects’ psychiatric symptoms, the Checklist (SCL-90) and Attachment Styles Questionnaire (ASQ) were used and in order to examine the ability to recognize facial expressions of emotion, we chose the Pictures of Facial Affect (POFA). All the respondents gave their informed consent in writing. The control group recognized fear significantly less as compared to psychiatry residents. Among psychiatry residents, there was a significantly positive correlation between hostility and fear recognition and anxiety and fear recognition. The same was observed between obsessive-compulsive symptoms and disgust recognition. In the control group, there was a significantly negative correlation between paranoid ideation and phobic anxiety with sadness recognition. In resident psychiatry, happiness recognition was positively related to an attachment-style based on confidence, while sadness recognition and surprise recognition correlated negatively with an attachment style based on considering relationships as being of secondary importance. This is one of the first studies to examine emotion recognition skills in medical professionals, and the association of this ability with psychiatric symptoms and attachment styles. We think it is important to observe longitudinally what the possible relevance of these findings might be for both diagnostic accuracy and therapeutic relationships.


REFERENCES

  1. Fasel B, Luettin J. Automatic facial expression analysis: a survey. Pattern Recognition 2003;36:259-275.

  2. Leber S, Heidenreich T, Stangier U, Hofmann SG. Processing of facial affect under social threat in socially anxious adults: mood matters. Depression Anxiety 2009; (1091-4269)26:196-206.

  3. Vrugt A, Vet C. Effects of a smile on mood and helping behavior. Social Behavior Personality International J 2009;37:1251-1257.

  4. Hinsz VB, Tomave JA. Smile and (half) the world smiles with you, frown and you frown alone. Personality Social Psychology Bull 1991;17:586-592.

  5. Mineka S. A primate model of phobic fears. En: Eysenck, HJ, Martin I (eds.). Theoretical foundations of behaviour therapy. New York: Plenum Press; 1987; pp. 81-111.

  6. Ekman P, Oster H. Facial expressions of emotion. Annual Review Psychology 1979;30:527-554.

  7. Guterman O. Adult attachment style and sensitivity to non-verbal expressions of emotion: The facilitating role of attachment security. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. Rama Gan, Israel: Bar-Iln University; 2006.

  8. Mikulincer M, Shaver P. Attachment in adulthood, structure, dynamics and change. New York: The Guilford Press; 2007; pp, 25.

  9. Dykas M, Cassidy J. Attachment and the processing of social information across the life span: Theory and evidence. Psychological Bull 2011;137(1):19-46.

  10. Machado P, Beutler L, Greenberg L. Emotion recognition in psychotherapy: Impact of therapist level of experience and emotional awareness. J Clinical Psychology 1999;55(1):39-57.

  11. Forrest D. Teaching affect recognition to medical students: Evaluation and reflections. J American Academy Psychoanalysis Dynamic Psychiatry 2011;39(2):229-241.

  12. Grant EC. An ethological description of non-verbal behaviour during interviews. British J Medical Psychology 1968;41:177-183.

  13. Schelde T, Hertz M. Ethology and psychotherapy. Ethology Sociobiology 1994;15:383-392.

  14. Geerts E, Bouhuys AL, van den Hoofdakker RH. Nonverbal attunement between depressed patients and an interviewer predicts subsequent improvement. J Affective Disorders 1996;40:15-21.

  15. Troisi A. Ethological research in clinical psychiatry: the study of nonverbal behavior during interviews. Neuroscience Biobehavioral Reviews 1999;23:905-913.

  16. Csukly G, Czobor P, Simon L, Takács B. Basic emotions and psychological distress: association between recognition of facial expressions and Symptom Checklist-90 subscales. Comprehensive Psychiatry 2008;49:177-183.

  17. Cruz Fuentes C, López Bello L, Blas García C, González Macías L et al. Datos sobre la validez y confiabilidad de la SYMPTOM CHECK LIST 90 (SCL 90), en una muestra de sujetos mexicanos. Salud Mental 2005;20(1):72-81.

  18. Degoratis L. SCL-90-R Symptom Checklist-90-R [Computer software]. NCS, 1994.

  19. Feeney JA, Noller P, Hanrahan M. Assessing adult attachment. In: Sperling MB, Berman WH (eds.). Attachment in adults: Clinical and developmental perspectives, New York: Guilford Press; 1994; pp. 128-152.

  20. Ahumada Castillo JP. Traducción y validación del cuestionario de estilos de apego en el adulto (Attachment Style Questionnaire). México: Tesis de especialidad en Psiquiatría, UNAM; 2011.

  21. Ekman P. Pictures of facial affect (POFA). 18 min. 1-110. PAUL EKMAN GROUP, LLC; 1993.

  22. Anguas-Wong AM, Matsumoto D. Reconocimiento de la expresión facial de la emoción en mexicanos universitarios. Revista Psicología 2007;XXV(2):279-293.

  23. Pérez-Rincón H, Cortés J, Díaz-Martinez A. El reconocimiento de la expresión facial de las emociones. 1999;22(1):17-23.

  24. Mueser KT, Doonan R, Penn DL, Blanchard JJ et al. Emotion recognition and social competence in chronic schizophrenia. J Abnormal Psychol 1996;105(2):271-275.

  25. Hooker C, Park S. Emotion processing and its relationship to social functioning in schizophrenia patients. Psychiatry Research 2002;112(1):41-50.

  26. Poole JH, Tobias FC, Vinogradov S. The functional relevance of affect recognition errors in schizophrenia. J International Neuropsychology Soc 2000;6:649-58.

  27. Gallese V. The roots of empathy: the shared mainfold hypothesis and the neural basis of intersubjectivity. Psychopathology 2003; 36:171-180.




2020     |     www.medigraphic.com