[Olanzapine effects on emotional recognition in treatment refractory schizophrenics].
BACKGROUND
The main purpose of this study was to determine if olanzapine (OLZ) can improve the ability to recognize emotional expressions, in the facial, prosodic and contextual modalities in treatment refractory schizophrenics (TRS) and, if this could be related to its effects on depressive symptoms.


METHODS
14 TRS participated in the study. The Calgary Depression Scale and tasks for recognition of facial, prosodic and contextual emotions were applied prior to and 8 weeks after consuming OLZ. The results were compared to a control group (CO).


RESULTS
TRS obtained lower scores than the CO on the recognition of facial and prosodic emotions. They also showed less empathy to the happiness film and they expressed incongruous answers on the contextual emotions. The TRS increased the number of correct responses for the prosodic recognition of happiness and they showed a reduction in their depressive symptomatology after OLZ treatment.


CONCLUSIONS
OLZ caused a decrease of the depressive symptoms and improved the interpretation of positive prosodic affective stimuli, an aspect that may facilitate the social adaptation of TRS.
Ibarrarán-Pernas
G Y
GY
Instituto de Neurociencias, Universidad de Guadalajara, Mexico.
Guevara
M A
MA
Cerdán
L F
LF
Ramos-Loyo
J
J
D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect / Q000187:drug effects*; D001569:Benzodiazepines / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D010054:Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D000077152:Olanzapine; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000187:drug effects*; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000188:drug therapy*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
D001569:Benzodiazepines; D000077152:Olanzapine