This study examined facial emotional expressions produced by schizophrenic (SZ), unipolar depressed (UD), and normal control (NC) righthanded adults. Hypotheses regarding right-hemisphere activation in UD and suppression in SZ were addressed, as well as hypotheses about emotion and laterality. Subjects were videotaped while posing positive, neutral, and negative facial expressions to verbal command and to visual imitation. Naive judges rated hemiface stimuli for intensity in original and mirror-reversed orientations. Overall, SZs produced expressions with diminished intensity relative to UDs and NCs. Across subject groups, expressions were more intense in the visual than the verbal condition. In general, approach expressions were produced with greater right-hemiface intensity, and withdrawal expressions with greater left-hemiface intensity. UDs showed more pronounced facial asymmetry than SZs or NCs. An unanticipated right-hemispace perceptual bias among the judges may reflect the analytical, detailed rating procedure used and the presumably greater reliance by the judges on left-than right-hemisphere strategies.
This study examined the relationship between facial expression and social functioning in schizophrenic, depressed, right-brain-damaged, Parkinson's disease, and normal adult participants. Raters evaluated general intensity and amount of positive and negative facial emotion while participants were producing monologues regarding pleasant and unpleasant experiences. Social functioning items were derived from three standardized inventories. Overall, patient groups displayed more negative and less positive emotion than normals, and the schizophrenic and right-brain-damaged groups showed less intense expressions than normals. Correlational analyses suggested that the more intense the facial expressions, the better the social functioning, and that the more negative emotion displayed, the poorer the social functioning.
A male patient was referred to an occupational medicine clinic for evaluation of a variety of medical, neuropsychological, and psychiatric complaints, including headaches,fatigue, impotence, attentionand short-term memory problems, and depression. These complaints followed his exposure to a coolant that was used in his work as a tooland-die maker, and the symptoms persisted after his transfer to another department. A medical evaluation revealed no organic basis for his continuing symptoms. Neuropsychological testing showed no evidence of an underlying neurological disorder but did reveal significant signs of depression and personality disturbance. The case is discussed in the context of a newly recognized clinical entity termed multiple chemical . sensitivities (MCS), and it illustrates the value of extensive neuropsychological assessment and a thorough medical evaluation in the diagnosis and management of this disorder.
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