Indicators of expressiveness and emotional processing in depression

• Grant number: 12/50879-6
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: December 01, 2012
• End date: May 31, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Psychology - Psychological Treatment and Prevention
• Principal Investigator: Clarice Gorenstein
• Grantee: Clarice Gorenstein
• Host Institution: Instituto de Psiquiatria Doutor Antonio Carlos Pacheco e Silva (IPq). Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina da USP (HCFMUSP). Secretaria da Saúde (São Paulo - Estado). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• City of the host institution: São Paulo

Abstract

Depression is a mood disorder which has a negative impact on individuals and society. It is associated with automatic emotional processes, difficult to be defined and evaluated, that cause interpersonal problems, loss of social support, resulting in the disease worsening. Two measures of expressiveness and emotional processing, which has been poorly investigated in depressed patients, may act as access gateways to unconscious affective factors: 1) Nonverbal communication, based mainly on reflex responses that indicate affects and social motivations that are not quite so easily expressed verbally; and 2) Level of emotional awareness, the ability to recognize emotions in oneself and others that is helpful to behavioral management and development of empathy. The objective of this research is to investigate the relevance of nonverbal communication indicators and levels of emotional awareness in depressive patients. During clinical interviews we shall investigate differences in the expressiveness and emotional awareness of depressed patients and healthy Controls, as well as of different subgroups of patients. We will also investigate associations between: a) the judgment of expressiveness made by the patients themselves, interviewers and observers from outside of the clinical setting; b) measures of patients' nonverbal expressiveness and emotional awareness. Since the majority of studies on nonverbal communication and emotional awareness in psychopathology are performed with Caucasian samples, the evaluation of Brazilian patients may also provide insights into cultural issues involved in the emotional expressiveness of depressed people. These results should help in mapping relevant emotional variables to the diagnostic and treatment of the disorder. (AU)

Scientific publications

(4)

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

FERNANDES, RAQUEL A.; FIQUER, JULIANA T.; GORENSTEIN, CLARICE; RAZZA, LAIS BORALLI; FRAGUAS, JR., RENERIO; BORRIONE, LUCAS; BENSENOR, ISABELA M.; LOTUFO, PAULO A.; DANTAS, EDUARDO MIRANDA; CARVALHO, ANDRE F.; et al. Nonverbal behaviors are associated with increased vagal activity in major depressive disorder: Implications for the polyvagal theory. Journal of Affective Disorders, v. 209, p. 18-22, FEB 2017. (14/20799-6, 12/50879-6, 11/51732-6)

FIQUER, JULIANA TEIXEIRA; BOGGIO, PAULO SERGIO; GORENSTEIN, CLARICE. Talking bodies: Nonverbal behavior in the assessment of depression severity. Journal of Affective Disorders, v. 150, n. 3, p. 1114-1119, SEP 25 2013. (12/50879-6, 11/51732-6)

FIQUER, JULIANA TEIXEIRA; MORENO, RICARDO ALBERTO; BRUNONI, ANDRE R.; BARROS, VIVIAN BOSCHESI; FERNANDES, FERNANDO; GORENSTEIN, CLARICE. What is the nonverbal communication of depression? Assessing expressive differences between depressive patients and healthy volunteers during clinical interviews. Journal of Affective Disorders, v. 238, p. 636-644, OCT 1 2018. (12/20911-5, 12/50879-6, 11/51732-6)

FIQUER, JULIANA TEIXEIRA; MORENO, RICARDO ALBERTO; CANALES, JANETTE Z.; CAVALCANTI, ANDRE; GORENSTEIN, CLARICE. Is nonverbal behavior in patients and interviewers relevant to the assessment of depression and its recovery? A study with Dutch and Brazilian patients. PSYCHIATRY RESEARCH, v. 250, p. 59-64, APR 2017. (11/51732-6, 12/50879-6)