Emotion dysregulation in schizophrenia: reduced amplification of emotional expression is associated with emotional blunting.
A prominent emotional disturbance in schizophrenia is clinically evident in blunted affect, often observed as reduced emotional expressivity alongside the individual's report of normal or heightened emotional experience. It has been suggested that this disjunction between the experience and expression of emotion may reflect problems with the regulation of emotional expression. The present study thus set out to examine the capacity to engage in particular emotion regulatory strategies, and specifically, the ability to amplify the emotional expression of an experienced emotion ('amplification') or suppress the emotional expression of an experienced emotion ('suppression') whilst watching film clips selected to elicit amusement. Twenty nine participants with schizophrenia and 30 demographically matched non-clinical controls were asked to watch three different amusing film clips, whilst engaging in different regulatory strategies. The results indicate that participants with schizophrenia have difficulties with the amplification (but not suppression) of emotion expressive behavior. These difficulties are significantly correlated with total negative symptoms experienced, particularly emotional blunting.
Henry
Julie D
JD
School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052 Australia. julie.henry@unsw.edu.au
Green
Melissa J
MJ
de Lucia
Amber
A
Restuccia
Corinne
C
McDonald
Skye
S
O'Donnell
Maryanne
M
D000328:Adult; D000342:Affective Symptoms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D008297:Male; D009040:Motion Pictures; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology; D014925:Wit and Humor as Topic
D014150:Antipsychotic Agents