Recognition of Facial Emotion Expressions in Patients with Depressive Disorders: A Prospective, Observational Study.

Introduction: Processing of emotional stimuli is altered in patients with depression. The present feasibility study investigated the features of emotional information recognition in people with depressive disorders and how these differ from individuals without depression to determine whether response times could potentially be used as a diagnostic marker to identify individuals at high risk of depression and as an indicator of antidepressant medication response.

Methods: The study recruited 32 individuals, 16 with single or recurrent depressive episodes and 16 control subjects without depression.