Social functioning and facial emotional expression in neurological and psychiatric disorders.

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.

Lateralization of facial emotional expression in schizophrenic and depressed patients.

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.

Teaching medical staff psychological concepts via a hospital newsletter.

Despite the increased recognition of the critical role of social and psychological factors in health and illness, the teaching of psychology is rarely integrated in medical education. Staff generally have minimal formal training in psychological concepts. Patients on the inpatient rehabilitation unit frequently present with unexpected reactions in response to acute trauma and resulting changes in identity and capabilities.

Perception of facial emotion in schizophrenic and right brain-damaged patients.

Deficits in the perception of facial emotion have been demonstrated in patients with right-sided brain damage (RBD) and schizophrenia (SZ). Furthermore, recent speculations have implicated right-hemisphere dysfunction in Type II schizophrenics, especially those with a preponderance of "negative symptoms" and flat affect. The performance of SZ, RBD, and normal control subjects was compared on measures assessing facial emotional perception.

Spontaneous expression of facial emotion in schizophrenic and right-brain-damaged patients.

The primary neuropsychological theories of schizophrenia have emphasized disturbed dominant hemisphere functioning, although schizophrenics (SZs), particularly those with flat affect, may have deficits resembling those of patients with damage to their right hemisphere. SZs, right-brain-damaged patients (RBDs), and normal controls (NCs) were videotaped while talking about a pleasant and an unpleasant experience. Raters viewed the video recordings of facial activity with the audio portion turned off and assessed the intensity of emotion, the amount of positive emotion, and the amount of negative emotion.