Facial emotion recognition difficulties may be specific to skin picking disorder, but could also be related to the presence of alexithymia in trichotillomania
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background and objectives
Previous research has shown high rates of alexithymia and emotion dysregulation in trichotillomania (TTM) and skin picking disorder (SPD). Unfortunately, there are no data on facial emotion recognition (FER) in TTM and SPD. The present study aimed to compare patients with TTM and SPD and a healthy control group for the severity of alexithymia and rates of FER.
Methods
Forty patients with SPD, 30 patients with TTM, and 30 healthy controls were enrolled in this study. The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), Clinical Global Impression (CGI), Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), and the Facial Emotion Recognition Test were applied to the participants.
Results
Patients with TTM and SPD had less FER accuracy and higher alexithymia scores compared with healthy controls. According to ANCOVA analysis, when anxiety, depression, and alexithymia were fixed as covariates, disgusted facial expressions and total facial emotion recognition were still significantly lower in patients with SPD compared with the control group, but there was no difference between the TTM and control groups and TTM and SPD groups.
Conclusion
Alexithymia rates were high in patients with TTM and SPD. Interestingly, difficulty in recognizing disgusted facial expressions may be a distinctive sign in SPD. Future neuroimaging studies are needed to support possible FER impairment in patients with TTM/SPD.
期刊介绍:
The European journal of psychiatry is a quarterly publication founded in 1986 and directed by Professor Seva until his death in 2004. It was originally intended to report “the scientific activity of European psychiatrists” and “to bring about a greater degree of communication” among them. However, “since scientific knowledge has no geographical or cultural boundaries, is open to contributions from all over the world”. These principles are maintained in the new stage of the journal, now expanded with the help of an American editor.