The judgement of facial expressions by depressed patients, their partners and controls

Abstract

Background: Research has shown that cognitive and interpersonal processes play significant roles in depression development and maintenance. Depressed patients judgments of emotions displayed in facial expressions, as well as those of their partners, allow for better understanding of these processes.

Methods: In this study, twenty major depression outpatients, their partners and control persons (matched on the sex and age of the partner) judged facial expressions as to the emotions they felt were portrayed, at the patients outpatient admission. It was expected that the patients would judge the facial expression more negatively and less positively than their partners and that the partners would judge more negatively and less positively than the controls.

Results: It was found that while both the patients and partners judged less positive emotions than the controls, the patients and partners did not judge the expressions differently. A trend in the same direction was found between the three groups as to judgment of negative emotions.

Conclusion: These findings are related back to interpersonal and cognitive theories of depression.

Limitation: A limitation of this study was the somewhat small patient population available for study.

Clinical relevance: This study helps to shed light on the similarity between interpersonal and cognitive processes of depressed patients and their partners.