Gender Differences in Empathic Ability and Facial Emotion Recognition of Schizophrenic Patients

OBJECTIVES: The aim of the present study was to investigate gender difference in empathic ability and recognition of facial emotion expression in schizophrenic patients. METHODS: Twenty-two schizophrenic outpatients (11 men and 11 women) and controls (10 men and 12 women) performed both the scale of Empathic Quotient (EQ) and facial emotion recognition test. We compared the scores of EQ and the facial emotion recognition test among each group according to diagnosis and gender. RESULTS: We found a significant sex difference in the scores of EQ and the facial emotion recognition test in the schizophrenic patients. And there were significantly negative correlation between the score of the facial emotion recognition test and the scores of Positive and Negative Symptom Scale (PANSS) in female schizophrenic patients. However, in male schizophrenic patients, there were no significant correlations between the score of each test and the scores of PANSS. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that the sex difference in empathic ability and facial emotion recognition would be very important in chronic schizophrenic patients. Investigation of sex effects in empathic ability and facial emotion recognition in chronic schizophrenic patients would present an important solution for constructing optimal rehabilitation program.

Comparative Study of Heart Rate Variability in Patients with Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder, Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, or Major Depressive Disorder

OBJECTIVE: Heart rate variability (HRV) changes as a function of psychiatric illness. This study aimed to evaluate HRV among patients with various psychiatric disorders. METHODS: The present study recruited patients with schizophrenia (n=35), bipolar disorder (n=41), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD; n=34), or major depressive disorder (n=34) as well as healthy controls (n=27). The time-domain analysis (the standard deviation of all RR intervals [SDNN] and the square root of the mean squared differences of successive normal sinus intervals [RMSSD]), the frequency-domain analysis (very low frequency, low frequency [LF], high frequency [HF], and total power [TP]), and a non-linear complexity measure the approximate entropy were computed. RESULTS: SDNN and HF were significantly reduced in patients with schizophrenia compared with healthy controls. SDNN, RMSSD, TP, LF, and HF were significantly reduced in bipolar patients compared with healthy controls. HF was significantly reduced in PTSD patients compared with healthy controls. CONCLUSION: Our findings indicate that HRV is not sufficiently powerful to discriminate among various psychiatric illnesses. However, our results suggest that HRV, particularly HF, could be used as a tool for discriminating between psychiatric patients and healthy controls.

ERP Components Associated with Emotional Processing in Anxiety Disorder

This article aimed to describe typical event-related potentials (ERP) components of emotional processing in patients with anxiety disorder and highly anxious individuals. ERP components associated with emotional processing could be broadly divided into three components with short, middle and long, respectively. Many studies show that patients with anxiety disorders are characterized by different emotional bias to specific stimuli and more sensitive to emotional stimuli than normal individuals. In addition, these emotional biases were stronger and quicker in patients with anxiety disorder than normal individuals. Some studies reported that anxious people show abnormality at the initial stage (e.g. P1) of emotional processing. However, other studies reported the abnormality at the late stage (e.g. LPP) or wholeness of emotional processing in anxious individuals. We summarized the updated finding of possible ERP components of emotional processing in patients with anxiety disorder and highly anxious individuals. The significance and clinical implication were discussed.