Żurowska Natasza, Kałwa Agnieszka, Rymarczyk Krystyna, Habrat Bogusław
a Department of Experimental Psychology , Institute of Cognitive and Behavioural Neuroscience, University of Social Sciences and Humanities , Warsaw , Poland.
b Department of Child and Adolescence Psychiatry , Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology , Warsaw , Poland.
Cogn Neuropsychiatry. 2018 Mar;23(2):74-87. doi: 10.1080/13546805.2018.1426448. Epub 2018 Jan 21.
The study investigates how benzodiazepine (BZD) use and detoxification affects empathy and the recognition and intensity rating of emotional facial expressions. The sample comprised 43 participants in three groups: (1) during detoxification (N = 13), (2) after detoxification (N = 15), (3) a matched control group (N = 15). Clinical subjects were recruited from in-patients of an addiction treatment unit.
Empathy levels were tested with the Empathy Quotient (EQ-Short). Recognition accuracy and emotion intensity rating were based on a computerised task displaying static and dynamic facial expressions of joy, anger, sadness, and fear.
The controls proved more accurate than both experimental groups in identifying facial expressions of negative emotions. Joy recognition proved most accurate overall. Among the clinical subjects, women in particular exhibited an impaired ability to correctly identify negative emotions from facial expressions. Dynamic stimuli were better recognised than static ones albeit only in the experimental groups. No significant differences were found for emotion intensity ratings and EQ scores.
Our findings suggest that the impaired facial emotion recognition accuracy is not caused by deficits in empathy. No improvement was recorded post-detoxification which may indicate impaired interpersonal functioning among BZD users. Further research is warranted in light of this study's limitations.
本研究调查了苯二氮䓬类药物（BZD）的使用及脱毒如何影响同理心以及对面部表情的识别和强度评级。样本包括43名参与者，分为三组：（1）脱毒期间（N = 13），（2）脱毒后（N = 15），（3）匹配的对照组（N = 15）。临床受试者从一家成瘾治疗机构的住院患者中招募。
使用同理心商数简版（EQ-Short）测试同理心水平。识别准确性和情绪强度评级基于一项电脑任务，该任务展示快乐、愤怒、悲伤和恐惧的静态及动态面部表情。
在识别负面情绪的面部表情方面，对照组比两个实验组都更准确。总体而言，快乐表情的识别最为准确。在临床受试者中，尤其是女性，从面部表情正确识别负面情绪的能力受损。动态刺激比静态刺激更容易被识别，不过仅在实验组中如此。在情绪强度评级和EQ得分方面未发现显著差异。
我们的研究结果表明，面部情绪识别准确性受损并非由同理心缺陷所致。脱毒后未记录到改善情况，这可能表明BZD使用者的人际功能受损。鉴于本研究的局限性，有必要进行进一步研究。
