Emotion Recognition In Patients Research Articles

Facial recognition in primary focal dystonia

The basal ganglia seem to be involved in emotional processing. Primary dystonia is a movement disorder considered to result from basal ganglia dysfunction, and the aim of the present study was to investigate emotion recognition in patients with primary focal dystonia. Thirty-two patients with primary cranial (n=12) and cervical (n=20) dystonia were compared to 32 healthy controls matched for age, sex, and educational level on the facially expressed emotion labeling (FEEL) test, a computer-based tool measuring a person's ability to recognize facially expressed emotions. Patients with cognitive impairment or depression were excluded. None of the patients received medication with a possible cognitive side effect profile and only those with mild to moderate dystonia were included. Patients with primary dystonia showed isolated deficits in the recognition of disgust (P=0.007), while no differences between patients and controls were found with regard to the other emotions (fear, happiness, surprise, sadness, and anger). The findings of the present study add further evidence to the conception that dystonia is not only a motor but a complex basal ganglia disorder including selective emotion recognition disturbances.

Verknüpfung kognitiver und psychodynamischerKomponenten in der Psychotherapie somatoformerErkrankungen

Psychological research has identified difficulties in the awareness, verbalization and recognition of emotions in patients with somatoform disorders. Problems in the recognition of emotions are usually labeled as alexithymia. Patients with alexithymic characteristics need a special psychotherapeutic approach, which may be described as follows: The first stage of treatment aims to overcome the alexithymic barrier along with the development of self-monitoring skills for emotional states. A favorable setting for this work is group psychotherapy. In this stage of treatment cognitive targets and interventions dominate. These include: 1. the link between emotions and physiological response; teaching the fundamental laws of emotional life and the importance of emotional hygiene. 2. Improving awareness of difficulties in the recognition and expression of emotions. 3. Changing the patients negative attitude towards emotions. The second stage of the group work is mainly oriented towards the cognitive analysis of dysfunctional basic beliefs. In this stage psychodynamic issues become more important which include resistance and transference reactions, feedback of group members, analysis of social and familial contexts and the working through of traumatic childhood experiences.