Does affective blunting in schizophrenia reflect affective deficit or neuromotor dysfunction?
Schizophrenia inpatients withdrawn from all neuroleptic medication were administered measures of affective blunting, diminished affective experience, and neuromotor dysfunction. The correlations among the measures provided support for the hypothesis that measures of affective blunting reflect both neuromotor and affective deficits. Because the interpretation of such measures is therefore ambiguous, measures of diminished affective experience may have greater validity in research on affective deficits in schizophrenia than measures of blunted affective expression.
Dworkin
R H
RH
Department of Anesthesiology, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032-3784, USA. rhd2@columbia.edu.
Clark
S C
SC
Amador
X F
XF
Gorman
J M
JM
D000328:Adult; D000342:Affective Symptoms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D001143:Arousal; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009460:Neurologic Examination; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011596:Psychomotor Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology