Impairments of Social Interaction in Depressive Disorder

Objective Despite the numerous findings on the altered emotion recognition and dysfunctional social interaction behavior of depressive patients, a lot of the relationships are not clearly clarified. Methods In this pilot study, 20 depressive patients (mean±SD, 38.4±14.2) and 20 healthy subjects (mean±SD, 38.9±15.3) (each in dyads) were videographed. We then analyzed their social interaction behavior and emotion processing in terms of emotion recognition, their own emotional experience, and the expression of emotions under the conditions of a semi-structured experimental paradigm. Results Patients showed more significant impairment regarding the dimensions of social interaction behavior (i.e., attention, interest, and activity) and their interaction behavior was characterized by neutral affectivity, silence, and avoidance of direct eye contact. This interactive behavioral style was statistically related to depressive psychopathology. There were no differences concerning emotion recognition. Conclusion Impairments of non-verbal and verbal social interaction behavior of depressive patients seem to be less associated with disturbances of basic skills of emotion recognition.