Research shows how depressed and non-depressed people identify facial expressions in different ways

Depression is a very common type of mental disorder and is now considered the leading cause of disability worldwide, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). It is a problem that manifests itself in many ways and can cause different symptoms, making no distinction of gender or age and affecting not only well-being, but also the way one sees the world.

O awesome.club brings you the doctoral thesis of psychologist Vinícius Ferreira Borges, from USP-Ribeirão Preto. It compares how people with and without depression identify certain basic facial expressions and their reasons for doing so.

The thesis showed that part of those affected by severe depression with psychotic symptoms demonstrate some difficulty in recognizing basic emotions through facial expressions. But this was a factor that could or could not be associated with psychotic depression. Therefore, Vinícius also evaluated the ability to do the same in people without depression who were exposed to stress early.

The greatest difficulty was demonstrated precisely by patients with depression. On the other hand, those who did not have the disorder, even when subjected to early stress levels, obtained a higher level of correct answers, even in comparison with healthy adults who did not suffer early stress.

The research, as we mentioned, was carried out at USP-Ribeirão Preto, under the guidance of Professor Cristina Marta Del-Ben. Vinícius worked with 98 participants of different genders and histories of early stress and divided them into “keys”. The first category separated patients with depression from individuals without the problem. From these, there was a subdivision between those who had experienced early stress and those who did not.

In the type of depression addressed in the study, the patient has a depressed mood combined with psychotic symptoms, usually in the form of hallucinations and delusions related to the belief that something bad can happen.

As for the adequacy of patients to the study, there was a battery of assessments to which all participants were submitted, namely: a standardized diagnostic interview and the application of scales and questionnaires on the severity of psychiatric symptoms, global functioning and history of early stress, between others.

Then the participants were subjected to a test in which they needed to identify facial expressions. Blurred images of faces were shown, showing expressions of neutrality, fear, anger and joy. Survey participants needed to assign appropriate labels to these faces. Each of these primary emotions has a specific expression that distinguishes it from the others.

The ability to perceive and interpret facial expressions is fundamental for social life. It’s in our genetic code to understand that anger on someone’s face is a cue that helps us avoid conflict situations. Or that joy indicates that there are no problems. Or even that fear can indicate the existence of a threat that we have not yet identified. They are non-verbal methods used since the dawn of humanity, related to survival and social adequacy.

Patients with depression associated with early stress were those who had the worst result. The facial expression corresponding to happiness was constantly confused with the demonstration of anger, which could be linked to a more hostile “world view”.

However, patients who did not develop depression in adulthood, but still experienced early stress, had the best results. In fact, the greater the severity of such stress, the higher the rate of correct expressions of happiness, even in comparison with healthy people who did not experience this problem. In the case of depressives, the greater the severity of stress, the worse the happiness detection results were.

The final results were quite clear. People with more resilience, who “ate the bread that the devil kneaded” and still recovered, tend to more easily recognize the expression of joy. This goes to show that, as the saying goes, sometimes you have to have known hell to appreciate heaven.

Do you think you would do well on this test? Have you ever been through something and not let yourself down? Share your experience with us in the comments!