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Kinematical analysis of emotionally induced facial expressions in patients with obsessive–compulsive disorder

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 October 2003

R. MERGL
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Laboratory of Clinical Neurophysiology, München; Pfizer Inc., Karlsruhe; Psychosomatic Hospital Windach, Windach; and Department of Psychiatry, Charité, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
M. VOGEL
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Laboratory of Clinical Neurophysiology, München; Pfizer Inc., Karlsruhe; Psychosomatic Hospital Windach, Windach; and Department of Psychiatry, Charité, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
P. MAVROGIORGOU
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Laboratory of Clinical Neurophysiology, München; Pfizer Inc., Karlsruhe; Psychosomatic Hospital Windach, Windach; and Department of Psychiatry, Charité, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
C. GÖBEL
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Laboratory of Clinical Neurophysiology, München; Pfizer Inc., Karlsruhe; Psychosomatic Hospital Windach, Windach; and Department of Psychiatry, Charité, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
M. ZAUDIG
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Laboratory of Clinical Neurophysiology, München; Pfizer Inc., Karlsruhe; Psychosomatic Hospital Windach, Windach; and Department of Psychiatry, Charité, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
U. HEGERL
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Laboratory of Clinical Neurophysiology, München; Pfizer Inc., Karlsruhe; Psychosomatic Hospital Windach, Windach; and Department of Psychiatry, Charité, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
G. JUCKEL
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Laboratory of Clinical Neurophysiology, München; Pfizer Inc., Karlsruhe; Psychosomatic Hospital Windach, Windach; and Department of Psychiatry, Charité, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany

Abstract

Background. Motor function is deficient in many patients with obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD), especially in the face. To investigate subtle motor dysfunction, kinematical analysis of emotional facial expressions can be used. Our aim was to investigate facial movements in response to humorous film stimuli in OCD patients.

Method. Kinematical analysis of facial movements was performed. Ultrasound markers at defined points of the face provided exact measurement of facial movements, while subjects watched a humorous movie (‘Mr Bean’). Thirty-four OCD patients (19 male, 15 female; mean (S.D.) age: 35·8 (11·5) years; mean (S.D.) total Y-BOCS score: 25·5 (5·9)) were studied in unmedicated state and after a 10-week treatment with the SSRI sertraline. Thirty-four healthy controls (19 male, 15 female; mean (S.D.) age: 37·5 (13·1) years) were also investigated.

Results. At baseline, OCD patients showed significantly slower velocity at the beginning of laughing than healthy controls and a reduced laughing frequency. There was a significant negative correlation between laughing frequency and severity of OCD symptoms. Ten weeks later a significant increase of laughing frequency and initial velocity during laughing was found.

Conclusions. Execution of adequate facial reactions to humour is abnormally slow in OCD patients. Susceptibility of OCD patients with regard to emotional stimuli is less pronounced than in healthy subjects. This phenomenon is closely correlated to OCD symptoms and is state-dependent.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 2003 Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

Presented in part at the 7th World Congress of Biological Psychiatry, Berlin, Germany, 1–6 July 2001.