Emotion Recognition by Facial Expression in Chemical Addiction: Pilot Study

Emotion recognition by facial expression is one of the components of the system of cognitive–emotional connections, and its study allows us to expand our understanding of emotion regulation disorders as a key link in the mechanism for the formation of addictive behavior. The aim of the study is to research the features of emotion recognition in people with chemical dependence. Methods. The study involved 36 people, including 18 participants with chemical dependence and 18 participants in the healthy controls. The experimental procedure for emotion recognition by facial expression was developed based on the Emotional Fascial Expression database (KDEF–dyn data base) and allows us to evaluate 6 basic emotions (happiness, sadness, anger, fear, disgust, surprise) in the dynamics of their display, the percentage of correct and wrong answers. Hierarchical multiple linear regression using gender, age, education level, level of anxiety and depression (HADS), general level of impulsivity (BIS–11) as control variables was used. Results. It has been shown patients with chemical dependence are characterized by impaired recognition of sadness and have misattributing disgust in the direction of sadness. Conclusion. The data obtained confirm the presence of emotion recognition disorders in chemical dependence in the Russian-speaking sample and can be used in the framework of psycho-corrective programs with an emphasis on interpersonal interaction.

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