What is the relationship between the recognition of emotions and core beliefs: Associations between the recognition of emotions in facial expressions and the maladaptive schemas in depressed patients

BackgroundDepressed patients are both characterized by social reality distorting maladaptive schemas and facial expression recognition impairments. The aim of the present study was to identify specific associations among symptom severity of depression, early maladaptive schemas and recognition patterns of facially expressed emotions.MethodsThe subjects were inpatients, diagnosed with depression. We used 2 virtual humans for presenting the basic emotions to assess emotion recognition. The Symptom Check List 90 (SCL-90) was used as a self-report measure of psychiatric symptoms and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) was applied to assess symptoms of depression. The Young Schema Questionnaire Long Form (YSQ-L) was used to assess the presence of early maladaptive schemas.ResultsThe recognition rate for happiness showed significant associations with both the BDI and the depression subscale of the SCL-90. After performing the second order factor analysis of the YSQ-L, we found statistically significant associations between the recognition indices of specific emotions and the main factors of the YSQ-L.ConclusionsIn this study we found correlations between maladaptive schemas and emotion recognition impairments. While both domains likely contribute to the symptoms of depression, we believe that the results will help us to better understand the social cognitive deficits of depressed patients at the schema level and at the emotion recognition level.

Research highlights
► A negative association among psychiatric distress and the emotion recognition
► Subjects with more severe symptoms of depression recognize happiness at a lower rate
► Maladaptive schemas have associations with the recognition of different emotions