title: Facial emotion recognition and alexithymia in Chinese male patients with deficit schizophrenia.
abstract: Deficit schizophrenia (DS) has been proposed as a pathophysiologically distinct schizophrenia subtype. This study investigated facial emotion recognition deficits and alexithymia in DS and non-deficit schizophrenia patients (NDS) and their relationships with other clinical variables. The Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS), Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS), and Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms (SAPS) were employed to evaluate the psychiatric symptoms in patients with schizophrenia. Facial emotion recognition deficits and Alexithymia were assessed in DS, NDS, and control groups by The Chinese Facial Emotion Test (CFET) and the Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20 (TAS-20). Compared with control group, both DS and NDS patients exhibited more severe facial emotion recognition impairments, with the exception of "happy faces" in NDS patients, as well as higher alexithymia scores. In DS patients, correct frequency for fear recognition and total CFET score were negatively correlated with TAS-20 Factor 3 subscore for "externally oriented thinking". Total TAS-20 score was positively correlated with BPRS negative symptom and SANS score in DS patients. In contrast, there were no correlations between TAS-20 scores/subscores and psychiatric symptoms in NDS patients. These findings indicated distinct facial emotion recognition impairments in DS and NDS patients. Alexithymia might be specifically related to the negative symptom in DS patients, suggesting DS as a unique schizophrenic subtype.
authors: Department of Psychiatry, Affiliated WuTaiShan Hospital of Medical College of Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, Jiangsu 225003, China.
authors: Xiao Wei
authors: XW
authors: Tang
authors: Department of Neuropsychiatry, Affiliated ZhongDa Hospital and School of Medical, Southeast University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210009, China.
authors: Miao
authors: M
authors: Yu
authors: Xuzhou Medical College, Xuzhou, Jiangsu 221000, China.
authors: Wei Wei
authors: WW
authors: Duan
authors: Department of Geriatric Psychiatry, Affiliated Nanjing Brain Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jaingsu 210029, China. Electronic address: drxrz@hotmail.com.
authors: Xiang Rong
authors: XR
authors: Zhang
authors: Department of Psychiatry, Affiliated WuTaiShan Hospital of Medical College of Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, Jiangsu 225003, China.
authors: Wei Wei
authors: WW
authors: Sha
authors: Medical Psychological Institute of the Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, 139 Renmin (M) Road, Changsha, Hunan 410011, China.
authors: Xiang
authors: X
authors: Wang
authors: Department of Psychiatry, Affiliated WuTaiShan Hospital of Medical College of Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, Jiangsu 225003, China. Electronic address: zhangxiaobim@163.com.
authors: Xiao Bin
authors: XB
authors: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000342:Affective Symptoms / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002681:China; D005149:Facial Expression; D000066499:Facial Recognition / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012938:Social Perception