Emotion Recognition Deficits in Antipsychotic-naive Schizophrenia

Abstract

Background: Emotion recognition deficits in schizophrenia form an important component of deficits seen in the disorder. Emotion recognition abilities correlate well with symptom dimensions and sociooccupational outcome of the disorder. The influence of pharmacological treatment on brain functions makes it important to design studies examining emotion recognition in drug-naive patients. However, emotion recognition deficits in antipsychotic-naive schizophrenia patients have not been previously examined. Methods: In this study, TRENDS - A Tool for Recognition of Emotions of Neuropsychiatric Disorders - a tool validated in Indian population, was used to assess emotion recognition abilities of antipsychotic-naive schizophrenia patients ( n = 20) and group-matched healthy controls ( n = 20). Results: The study showed significant deficits in emotion recognition in patients, especially with regard to fear ( P = 0.001), followed by disgust ( P = 0.006), and anger ( P = 0.017). The under-recognition of these emotions was positively correlated with high negative symptom scores ( r = 0.470; P = 0.018) and negatively correlated with high positive symptom scores ( r = -0.447; P = 0.048). Conclusions: Presence of significant emotion recognition abnormalities in antipsychotic-naive schizophrenia suggests that these abnormalities might be intrinsically related to the pathogenesis of this disorder.