Flat affect and social skills in schizophrenia: evidence for their independence

Although flat affect and social skills deficits are generally considered to be distinct impairments in schizophrenia, flat affect is typically assesse d via an interview - an inherently social context. To the extent that emoti onal expressivity is an important component of socially appropriate interac tion, it is possible that schizophrenic patients' diminished expressiveness in a social situation is largely a function of their concurrent social ski lls deficit. In the present study, we examined the relation between social skills and flat affect by measuring flat affect in two contexts: during an interview thigh social demand) and while participants watched emotional fil m clips alone (low social demand). Results showed that social skills were n ot significantly correlated with flat affect in either context, suggesting that the two constructs represent independent domains of functioning in sch izophrenic patients. (C) 1999 Published by Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. Al l rights reserved.