Effects of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Existential Psychotherapy and Supportive Counselling on Facial Emotion Recognition Among Patients with Mild or Moderate Depression

The latest COVID-19 pandemic reveals that unexpected changes elevate depression bringing people apart, but also calling for social sharing. Yet the impact of depression on social cognition and functioning is not well understood. Assessment of social cognition is crucial not only for a better understanding of major depressive disorder (MDD), but also for screening, intervention, and remediation. Here by applying a novel experimental tool, a Face-n-Food task comprising a set of images bordering on the Giuseppe Arcimboldo style, we assessed the face tuning in patients with MDD and person-by-person matched controls. The key benefit of these images is that single components do not trigger face processing. Contrary to common beliefs, the outcome indicates that individuals with depression express intact face responsiveness. Yet, while in depression face sensitivity is tied with perceptual organization, in typical development, it is knotted with social cognition capabilities. Face tuning in depression, therefore, may rely upon altered behavioral strategies and underwriting brain mechanisms. To exclude a possible camouflaging effect of female social skills, we examined gender impact. Neither in depression nor in typical individuals had females excelled in face tuning. The outcome sheds light on the origins of the face sensitivity and alterations in social functioning in depression and mental well-being at large. Aberrant social functioning in depression is likely to be the result of deeply-rooted maladaptive strategies rather than of poor sensitivity to social signals. This has implications for mental well-being under the current pandemic conditions.

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“…2004 ). The cognitive behavioral therapy improves recognition of happy facial expressions ( Yilmaz et al. 2019 ).…”

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confidence: 99%

Face Tuning in Depression

et al. 2020

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“…We hypothesized that the brain regions that govern the expression of these two facial expressions may come from the same region, which also increases the difficulty of expression recognition and leads to a decrease in accuracy. In addition, many earlier studies have used small samples ( Chiu et al, 2018 ; Yılmaz et al, 2019 ), or selected several facial expressions for research ( Milders et al, 2010 ; Lawlor-Savage et al, 2014 ), as well as experiments to study the perception of different expression tensions ( Branco et al, 2017 ). Conversely, although our sample size was small, each subject was selected from two limited facial expressions and a total of 300 times were recognized for six facial expressions of 10 models, which significantly increased the stability and accuracy of the experiment.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Relationship Between Facial Expression and Cognitive Function in Patients With Depression

Guo

Zhang

et al. 2021

Front. Psychol.

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Objective: Considerable evidence has shown that facial expression recognition ability and cognitive function are impaired in patients with depression. We aimed to investigate the relationship between facial expression recognition and cognitive function in patients with depression.Methods: A total of 51 participants (i.e., 31 patients with depression and 20 healthy control subjects) underwent facial expression recognition tests, measuring anger, fear, disgust, sadness, happiness, and surprise. The Chinese version of the MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery (MCCB), which assesses seven cognitive domains, was used.Results: When compared with a control group, there were differences in the recognition of the expressions of sadness (p = 0.036), happiness (p = 0.041), and disgust (p = 0.030) in a depression group. In terms of cognitive function, the scores of patients with depression in the Trail Making Test (TMT; p < 0.001), symbol coding (p < 0.001), spatial span (p < 0.001), mazes (p = 0.007), the Brief Visuospatial Memory Test (BVMT; p = 0.001), category fluency (p = 0.029), and continuous performance test (p = 0.001) were lower than those of the control group, and the difference was statistically significant. The accuracy of sadness and disgust expression recognition in patients with depression was significantly positively correlated with cognitive function scores. The deficits in sadness expression recognition were significantly correlated with the TMT (p = 0.001, r = 0.561), symbol coding (p = 0.001, r = 0.596), maze (p = 0.015, r = 0.439), and the BVMT (p = 0.044, r = 0.370). The deficits in disgust expression recognition were significantly correlated with impairments in the TMT (p = 0.005, r = 0.501) and symbol coding (p = 0.001, r = 0.560).Conclusion: Since cognitive function is impaired in patients with depression, the ability to recognize negative facial expressions declines, which is mainly reflected in processing speed, reasoning, problem-solving, and memory.

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“…This suggests a possible mechanistic role of affective cognition, wherein positive shifts in unconscious bias may accumulate to eventually shift conscious mood. Such effects have previously been shown mainly for pharmacological treatment for depression (see Harmer et al, 2017 for review), and while some evidence from psychological treatment exists, it has been inconsistent (Porter et al, 2016 ; Yılmaz et al, 2019 ). This work highlights how emotional cognition may serve as an early marker of response across different interventions, which may be more resistant to the placebo and demand effects that occur in self-report.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Online behavioural activation during the COVID-19 pandemic decreases depression and negative affective bias

et al. 2021

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Background The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need for mental health interventions that can be easily disseminated during a crisis. Behavioural activation (BA) is a cost-effective treatment that can be administered by non-specialists; however, it is unclear whether it is still effective during a time of lockdown and social distancing, when opportunities for positive activity are significantly constrained. Methods Between May and October 2020, we randomised 68 UK participants with mild to moderate low mood to either a 4-week online programme of non-specialist administered BA or to a passive control group. Before and after the intervention, we collected self-report data on mood and COVID-related disruption, as well as measuring emotional cognition as an objective marker of risk for depression. Results In comparison to the control group, the BA group showed a significant decrease in depression, anxiety and anhedonia after the intervention, as well as an increase in self-reported activation and social support. Benefits persisted at 1-month follow-up. BA also decreased negative affective bias on several measures of the Facial Emotion Recognition Task and early change in bias was associated with later therapeutic gain. Participants rated the intervention as highly acceptable. Conclusion This study highlights the benefits of online BA that can be administered by non-specialists after brief training. These findings can help inform the policy response towards the rising incidence of mental health problems during a crisis situation such as a pandemic. They also highlight the use of objective cognitive markers of risk across different treatment modalities.

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Effects of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Existential Psychotherapy and Supportive Counselling on Facial Emotion Recognition Among Patients with Mild or Moderate Depression

Cited by 8 publications

References 71 publications

Face Tuning in Depression

Face Tuning in Depression

The Relationship Between Facial Expression and Cognitive Function in Patients With Depression

Online behavioural activation during the COVID-19 pandemic decreases depression and negative affective bias

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