Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gxg78 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T21:22:13.113Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Ability of Schizophrenics to Perceive and Cope with Negative Affect

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Alan S. Bellack ,
Kim T. Mueser ,
Julie Wade ,
Steven Sayers  and
Randall L. Morrison
Alan S. Bellack*
Affiliation:
Medical College of Pennsylvania/EPPI, 3200 Henry Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19129, USA
Kim T. Mueser
Affiliation:
Medical College of Pennsylvania/EPPI, 3200 Henry Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19129, USA
Julie Wade
Affiliation:
Medical College of Pennsylvania/EPPI, 3200 Henry Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19129, USA
Steven Sayers
Affiliation:
Medical College of Pennsylvania/EPPI, 3200 Henry Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19129, USA
Randall L. Morrison
Affiliation:
American Medical Association
*
∗Correspondence
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Thirty-four schizophrenic patients in an acute in-patient hospital were compared with 24 in-patients with major affective disorder and 19 non-patient controls on a role-play test of social skills and a test of affect perception. The role-play test consisted of 12 simulated conversations in which the subject was confronted by parents and friends expressing high-EE criticism or non-critical dissatisfaction. Schizophrenic patients lacked assertiveness and social skills in all conditions, but they did not show any differential impairment when presented with high EE. They consistently lied and denied errors rather than responding assertively or apologising, whether confronted with high-EE or benign criticisms. On the affect perception test, schizophrenic patients consistently underestimated the intensity or negativeness of negative emotions, but they were not deficient in perception of positive emotional displays. The data do not support the hypothesis that schizophrenic patients are poor at dealing with high-EE behaviours, but do indicate that their ability to cope with even mild negative affect is impaired. Possible explanations for this impairment include limited attentional capacity, a neurologically based perceptual deficit, and a self-protective mechanism to reduce or avoid stress.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 160 , Issue 4 , April 1992 , pp. 473 - 480
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1992 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

American Psychiatric Association (1987) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd edn, revised) (DSM–III–R). Washington, DC: APA.Google Scholar
Andreasen, N. C. (1981) Scale For the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS). Iowa City, University of Iowa.Google Scholar
Bellack, A. S., Morrison, R. L., Wixted, J. T., et al (1990) An analysis of social competence in schizophrenia. British Journal of Psychiatry, 156, 809–818.Google Scholar
Ekman, P., Friesen, W. V. & Ellsworth, P. (1972) Emotions in the Human. Elmsford, NY: Pergamon.Google Scholar
Goldstein, M. J. (1990) Risk factors and prevention in schizophrenia. In Recent Advances in Schizophrenia (eds Kales, A., Slefanis, C. N. & Talbott, J. A.), pp. 191–212. New York: Springer-Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hahlweg, K., Goldstein, M. J., Nuechterlein, K. H., et al (1989) Expressed emotion and patient-relative interaction in families of recent onset schizophrenics. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 57, 11–18.Google Scholar
Hooley, J. (1985) Expressed emotion: a review of the critical literature. Clinical Psychology Review, 5, 119–140.Google Scholar
Leff, J., Kuipers, L., Berkowitz, R., et al (1983) Life events, relatives' expressed emotion and maintenance neuroleptics in schizophrenic relapse. Psychological Medicine, 13, 799–806.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Miklowitz, D. J., Goldstein, M. J., Doane, J. A., et al (1989) Does expressed emotion index a transactional process? I. Relative's affective style. Family Process, 28, 153–167.Google Scholar
Morrison, R. L. M. & Bellack, A. S. (1987) The social functioning of schizophrenic patients: clinical and research issues. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 13, 715–725.Google Scholar
Morrison, R. L. M., Bellack, A. S. & Bashore, T. R. (1988a) Emotion perception skill among schizophrenic patients. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 10, 319–332.Google Scholar
Morrison, R. L. M., Bellack, A. S. & Mueser, K. T. (1988b) Facial affect recognition deficits and schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 14, 67–83.Google Scholar
Mueser, K. T., Bellack, A. S., Douglas, M. S., et al (1991) Prevalence and stability of social skill deficits in schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Research, 5, 167–176.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mueser, K. T., Bellack, A. S. & Morrison, R. L., et al (1990) Social competence in schizophrenia: premorbid adjustment, social skill, and domains of functioning. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 24, 51–63.Google Scholar
Overall, J. E. & Gorham, D. R. (1962) The Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale. Psychological Reports, 10, 799–812.Google Scholar
Pilkowski, I. & Bassett, D. (1980) Schizophrenia and the response to facial emotions. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 21, 236–244.Google Scholar
Rabin, A. L., Doneson, S. L. & Jentons, R. L. (1979) Studies of psychological functions in schizophrenia. In Disorders of the Schizophrenic Syndrome (ed. Bellack, L.), pp. 181–231. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Rabkin, J. G. (1980) Stressful life events and schizophrenia: a review of the research literature. Psychological Bulletin, 87, 408–425.Google Scholar
Randolph, E. T., Glynn, S. M., Eth, S., et al (1992) Replication of behavioural family management in schizophrenia. British Journal of Psychiatry (in press).Google Scholar
Spitzer, R. L. & Williams, J. B. W. (1985) Instruction Manual for the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM–III. Biometrics Research Department, New York State Psychiatric Institute.Google Scholar
Strachan, A. M., Feingold, D., Goldstein, M. J., et al (1989) Is expressed emotion an index of a transactional process? II. Patients' coping style. Family Process, 28, 169–181.Google Scholar
Strachan, A. M., Leff, J. P., Goldstein, M. J., et al (1986) Emotional attitudes and direct communication in the families of schizophrenics: a cross-national replication. British Journal of Psychiatry, 149, 279–287.Google Scholar
Sturgeon, D., Kuipers, L., Berkowitz, R., et al (1981) Psychophysiological responses of schizophrenic patients to high and low expressed emotion relatives. British Journal of Psychiatry, 138, 40–45.Google Scholar
Tarrier, N., Barrowclough, C., Porceddu, K., et al (1988) The assessment of psychophysiological reactivity to the expressed emotion of the relatives of schizophrenic patients. British Journal of Psychiatry, 152, 618–624.Google Scholar
Vaughn, C. E. & Leff, J. P. (1976a) The influence of family and social factors on the course of psychiatric illness. A comparison of schizophrenic and depressed neurotic patients. British Journal of Psychiatry, 129, 125–137.Google Scholar
Vaughn, C. E. & Leff, J. P. (1976b) The measurement of expressed emotion in the families of psychiatric patients. British Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 15, 157–165.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vaughn, C. E. & Leff, J. P. (1981) Patterns of emotional response in relatives of schizophrenic patients. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 7, 43–44.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zubin, J. & Sping, B. (1977) Vulnerability – a new view of schizophrenia. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 86, 103–126.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.