Levels of Structural Integration and Facial Expressions of Negative Emotions.
OBJECTIVE
For a clinically relevant understanding of facial displays of patients with mental disorders it is crucial to go beyond merely counting frequencies of facial expressions, but include the contextual information of the expression. We assume that patients with different levels of structural integration differ in the contextual embedding of their negative facial expressions of emotions.


METHODS
Facial affective behaviour of 80 female participants during an OPD interview was analysed using FACS (Facial Action Coding System) and the RFE coding system (Referencesof- Facial-Expression coding system; Bock et al. 2015).Using the RFE coding system, 2192 negative facial expressions of emotions were attributed to different references (e.g., interactive, self-related, object-related) by relying on contextual variables.


RESULTS
Pure frequency of negative facial affect was not related to level of structural integration. Negative facial expressions of emotions directed towards the interviewer (interactive reference), as well as negative facial expressions directed towards the displayer's whole self were associated with lower levels of structural integration. In contrast, negative facial affects directed to single aspects of the self, to single aspects of objects, or to external situations were associated with higher levels of structural integration.


CONCLUSIONS
The differentiation of references of facial affective behavior allows a deeper understanding of the connection between facial displays and structural levels of psychic integration.
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy Childhood and Adolescent Psychiatry Medical University of Innsbruck Anichstraße 35 A-6020 Innsbruck Austria https://www.i-med.ac.at/patienten/ukl_kinder_jugendpsychiatrie.html.
Astrid
A
Bock
Department of Psychology University of Innsbruck Bruno-Sander-Haus Innrain 52f 6020 Innsbruck Austria psychologie@uibk.ac.at https://www.uibk.ac.at/psychologie/
Eva
E
Huber
Department of Psychology University of Kassel Fachbereich 01 Holländische Str. 36-38 D-34127 Kassel Germany Department of Psychology of the University of Kassel.
Cord
C
Benecke
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D004644:Emotions; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009769:Object Attachment; D011386:Projective Techniques; D011573:Psychoanalytic Interpretation; D055815:Young Adult
FACS; Facial Expression of Emotion; Level of Structural Integration; OPD; Operationalized Psychodynamic Diagnostics; RFE; Reference of Facial Affect