Profile of Recognition of Emotion: A Study with Three Clinical Samples in a Comparative Context with Normals

Emotions are integral part of life dynamics, be it in balanced or imbalanced rigid frames. The present study is a journey to probe into whether recognition of emotion expressed by facial emotion differs among the three major psychiatric groups, i.e., Schizophrenia, Depression and Anxiety, compared with the normal control group, and to find out the sex difference, if any. The study involves a sample of 80 subjects- 20 subjects in each group. It deals with finding out the ability to recognize the six emotions from a series of photographs exhibiting Anger, Surprise, Happiness, Fear, Disgust and Sadness (Saha et al., 1984). The ratio of male-female subjects in each group and their respective ability to recognize the emotion correctly were analyzed. The data were analyzed using Mean, Standard Deviation, Chi Square Test, One way ANOVA and Duncan's Multiple Range Test. Results revealed that there are significant differences among the groups with respect to identification of the emotion of surprise; significant difference between normal control with depression and schizophrenia, and also between schizophrenia with depression and anxiety in terms of identifying the emotion of fear; and significant difference between anxiety group with depression and normal control in terms of identifying the emotion of happiness.