title: Nonverbal expressive behaviour in schizophrenia and social phobia.
abstract: Expressive behaviour plays a crucial role in the success of social interactions. Abnormality of expressive behaviour has been reported in interpersonal interactions of patients suffering from schizophrenia and social phobia, two debilitating mental disorders with important social deficits. However, no study has compared the expressive behaviour in these two disorders. Thirty schizophrenia patients, 21 social phobia patients and 30 healthy controls were evaluated and compared on expressive, cognitive and clinical dimensions. Expressive behaviour was assessed using the Motor Affective subscale of the Motor-Affective-Social-Scale (MASS). Covariables include the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), the anxiety level Liebowitz-Social-Anxiety-Scale (LSAS) and cognitive tasks. After controlling for depression, schizophrenia and social phobia patients both exhibited significantly fewer expressive behaviours compared to healthy controls. Moreover, our results showed specific signatures: schizophrenia patients performed fewer spontaneous gestures (hand gestures and smiles) whereas social phobia patients had an impaired ability to produce voluntary smiles in comparison to healthy controls. Interestingly, poor social functioning was significantly correlated with a decrease of expressive behaviour for schizophrenia patients. Expressive behaviour is impaired in different ways in social phobia and schizophrenia and is associated in schizophrenia with poorer social functioning. The Motor Affective subscale of the MASS is an interesting tool for assessing the dysfunction of interpersonal expressive behaviour in mental disorders.
authors.affiliation: Epsylon, Laboratory Dynamic of Human Abilities & Health Behaviors, Department of Sport Sciences, Psychology and Medicine, University of Montpellier & St-Etienne, France; University Department of Adult Psychiatry, Hôpital de la Colombière, CHU Montpellier, Montpellier-1 University, Montpellier, France; Movement to Health Laboratory, EuroMov, Montpellier-1 University, Montpellier, France. Electronic address: delmontejonathan@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Del-Monte
authors.forename: Stéphane
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Raffard
authors.forename: Robin N
authors.initials: RN
authors.lastname: Salesse
authors.forename: Ludovic
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Marin
authors.forename: Richard C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Schmidt
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Varlet
authors.forename: Benoît G
authors.initials: BG
authors.lastname: Bardy
authors.forename: Jean
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Philippe Boulenger
authors.forename: Marie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Christine Gély-Nargeot
authors.forename: Delphine
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Capdevielle
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008875:Middle Aged; D019964:Mood Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D009633:Nonverbal Communication; D010698:Phobic Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012559:Schizophrenia; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Negative symptoms; Nonverbal expressive behaviours; Schizophrenia; Social functioning; Social phobia