Abstract

ARANGO DE MONTIS, Iván et al. Recognition of facial expression of the emotions and their relation to attachment styles and psychiatric symptoms: Preliminary study on Psychiatric Residents. Salud Ment [online]. 2013, vol.36, n.2, pp.95-100. ISSN 0185-3325.

Facial expressions of emotion reveal complex mental states that have physiological correlates and signal internal states such as distress to others and are thus crucial in social interaction. In this preliminary study, we therefore sought to examine the link between current psychiatric symptoms and attachment styles in psychiatry residents and their ability to correctly identify facial expressions of emotions. Specifically, we hypothesized that greater current psychiatric symptoms and insecure attachment would be related to difficulties in deciphering facial expressions of negative emotions. A total of 56 psychiatry residents were included in the study, together with 50 university students pursuing careers unrelated to mental health. In order to evaluate the subjects' psychiatric symptoms, the Checklist (SCL-90) and Attachment Styles Questionnaire (ASQ) were used and in order to examine the ability to recognize facial expressions of emotion, we chose the Pictures of Facial Affect (POFA). All the respondents gave their informed consent in writing. The control group recognized fear significantly less as compared to psychiatry residents. Among psychiatry residents, there was a significantly positive correlation between hostility and fear recognition and anxiety and fear recognition. The same was observed between obsessive-compulsive symptoms and disgust recognition. In the control group, there was a significantly negative correlation between paranoid ideation and phobic anxiety with sadness recognition. In resident psychiatry, happiness recognition was positively related to an attachment-style based on confidence, while sadness recognition and surprise recognition correlated negatively with an attachment style based on considering relationships as being of secondary importance. This is one of the first studies to examine emotion recognition skills in medical professionals, and the association of this ability with psychiatric symptoms and attachment styles. We think it is important to observe longitudinally what the possible relevance of these findings might be for both diagnostic accuracy and therapeutic relationships.

Keywords : Emotion recognition; nonverbal behavior; psychiatric training; medical education.

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