Facial emotion recognition in child psychiatry: A systematic review

This review focuses on facial affect (emotion) recognition in children and adolescents with psychiatric disorders other than autism. A systematic search, using PRISMA guidelines, was conducted to identify original articles published prior to October 2011 pertaining to face recognition tasks in case–control studies. Used in the qualitative synthesis were: 2 studies on schizophrenia, 18 on mood disorders, 16 on anxiety disorders, 4 on eating disorders, 14 on ADHD and 9 on conduct disorder.Our review suggests that there are abnormalities in facial emotion recognition in a wide range of child psychiatric disorders and that these are likely to have a negative effect on both family and peer relationships. Scope for further research has been identified.

► Facial emotion recognition deficits are already well known in autism spectrum disorders.
► We have systematically reviewed the literature on facial emotion recognition deficits in other psychiatric disorders.
► Facial emotional recognition deficits are common in a range of child psychiatric disorders and are likely to have an impact on family and peer relationships.