TY - JOUR
T1 - Let's face it: facial emotion processing is impaired in bipolar disorder
AU - Van Rheenen, Tamsyn
AU - Rossell, Susan Lee
PY - 2014
Y1 - 2014
N2 - Patients with bipolar disorder (BD) have difficulty in recognizing and discriminating facial emotions. However, beyond this broad finding, existing literature is equivocal about the specific nature of impairments, and progress toward adequately profiling facial emotion processing in BD is hampered by methodological inconsistencies. The current study aimed to advance the literature by comparing 50 BD patients and 52 controls on a series of facial emotion processing tasks. Results indicated that patients with BD had a small, yet consistent impairment in emotion processing overall. This impairment did not vary as a function of specific emotions, tasks, or intensities between groups, and was not influenced by current mood state. These results suggest that past inconsistencies in the literature are unlikely to be attributable to task related artifacts influencing the estimation of an effect. These findings add to our understanding of social cognition in BD, and have important implications for clinicians treating patients with the disorder. (JINS, 2014, 20, 1-9)
AB - Patients with bipolar disorder (BD) have difficulty in recognizing and discriminating facial emotions. However, beyond this broad finding, existing literature is equivocal about the specific nature of impairments, and progress toward adequately profiling facial emotion processing in BD is hampered by methodological inconsistencies. The current study aimed to advance the literature by comparing 50 BD patients and 52 controls on a series of facial emotion processing tasks. Results indicated that patients with BD had a small, yet consistent impairment in emotion processing overall. This impairment did not vary as a function of specific emotions, tasks, or intensities between groups, and was not influenced by current mood state. These results suggest that past inconsistencies in the literature are unlikely to be attributable to task related artifacts influencing the estimation of an effect. These findings add to our understanding of social cognition in BD, and have important implications for clinicians treating patients with the disorder. (JINS, 2014, 20, 1-9)
UR - http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=9163735&fileId=S1355617713001367
U2 - 10.1017/S1355617713001367
DO - 10.1017/S1355617713001367
M3 - Article
SN - 1355-6177
VL - 20
SP - 200
EP - 208
JO - Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society
JF - Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society
IS - 2
ER -