VISUOSPATIAL AND AFFECT RECOGNITION DEFICIT IN DEPRESSION

Background: Theorists differ in their opinion whether interpersonal di fficulties in depression is associated more with perceptual impairment or with emotional bias. The present study intended to resolve such di fferences of opinion. Method: Major depressives, general medical patie nts, and non-patient controls were administered three visuospatial and two affective tasks to examine the nature of performance deficit asso ciated with each group. Results: Major depressives were found signific antly impaired in both visuospatial and affective tasks in comparison to general medical patients, who in turn, were impaired than non-patie nt controls. Conclusion: Major depressives' perceptual deficit is perv asive and not specific to affective categories. Limitation: The study could have been more informative if more psychiatric groups had been i ncluded as subjects. Clinical Relevance: Improvement in depressives' a bility for visuospatial and affective tasks may be considered as a mar ker of their clinical improvement. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.