Emotional responding in deficit and non-deficit schizophrenia

Although emotional dysfunction is presumed to be a central part of the defi cit syndrome in schizophrenia, it has not yet been empirically investigated in deficit and non-deficit patients. Emotional responding was examined in 19 male deficit patients, 22 non-deficit patients, and 20 non-patient contr ols. Patients participated in a semi-structured clinical interview that inc luded questions from the Schedule for the Deficit Syndrome (SDS) and the Br ief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS), and then were then categorized into de ficit and non-deficit groups. In addition, all participants viewed emotiona l films while their facial expressions were videotaped and then completed s elf-reports of emotional experience following each film. As predicted, defi cit patients were less expressive than non-deficit patients and controls ac ross the films. Contrary to prediction, deficit patients did not report exp eriencing less emotion to the films than non-deficit patients or controls. Thus, a disjunction in emotional responding appeared to characterize defici t patients, who were less expressive than controls but did not report less emotional experience. Alternative explanations for the findings are conside red as are directions for future research. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Irelan d Ltd. Al rights reserved.