What aspects of emotional functioning are impaired in schizophrenia?

Abstract Disturbances in emotional functioning are a major cause of persistent functional disability in schizophrenia. However, it is not clear what specific aspects of emotional functioning are impaired. Some studies have indicated diminished experience of positive affect in individuals with schizo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Schizophrenia research 2008-01, Vol.98 (1), p.239-246
Main Authors: Herbener, Ellen S, Song, Woojin, Khine, Tin T, Sweeney, John A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adaptation, Psychological
Adult
Adult and adolescent clinical studies
Affective Symptoms - diagnosis
Affective Symptoms - psychology
Analysis of Variance
Anhedonia
Arousal
Biological and medical sciences
Cognition
Control Groups
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
Emotional experience
Emotional processing
Emotions
Facial Expression
Female
Goals
Humans
Male
Medical sciences
Memory
Models, Psychological
Motivation
Photic Stimulation
Psychiatric Status Rating Scales - statistics & numerical data
Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychometrics
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Psychoses
Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia - diagnosis
Schizophrenic Psychology
Visual Perception
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Summary:Abstract Disturbances in emotional functioning are a major cause of persistent functional disability in schizophrenia. However, it is not clear what specific aspects of emotional functioning are impaired. Some studies have indicated diminished experience of positive affect in individuals with schizophrenia, while others have not. The current study assessed emotional responses by 34 individuals with schizophrenia and 35 demographically matched healthy participants to 131 images sampling a wide range of emotional arousal and valence levels. Ratings of affective response elicited by individual images were highly correlated across the groups ( r 's > .90), indicating similar emotional experiences at the moment of stimulus exposure. However, the data did not indicate strong relationships between ratings of the emotional impact of the images and most measures of day-to-day emotional processing. These results demonstrate that individuals with schizophrenia report “normal” emotional responses to emotional stimuli, and thus suggests that deficits in emotional functioning associated with the disorder are likely to occur further downstream, and involve the effective integration of emotion and cognition for adaptive functioning in areas such as goal-setting, motivation, and memory.
ISSN:0920-9964
1573-2509
DOI:10.1016/j.schres.2007.06.025