조현병환자에서 감정자각의 결함

Abstract

Objectives：The purpose of this study was to investigate the deficits of emotional awareness in patients with schizophrenia. In addition, we aimed to examine the relationship between alexithymia, emotional recognition and the other clinical variables in patients with schizophrenia. Methods：Forty patients with schizophrenia and forty normal controls were enrolled in a university-affiliated hospital. The Korean Version of Levels of Emotional Awareness Scale(LEAS-K), Korean Version of 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale(TAS-20K), Korean Facial Expressions of Emotion(KOFEE), and Positive and Negative Symptom Scale(PANSS) were performed. To compare the variables of the groups with schizophrenia and normal control, independent ttest for continuous variables and χ2test for discrete variables were applied. Results：The patients with schizophrenia had lower scores on LEAS-K and KOFEE and higher score on the TAS-20K than normal controls. Furthermore, there was a significant correlation between LEAS-K(Self) and TAS-20K factor 2(Difficulty Describing Feelings, DDF) among schizophrenic patients. LEAS-K(Total) score was significantly correlated with KOFEE Happy face score. TAS-20K factor 3(Externally Oriented Thinking, EOT) was significantly correlated with KOFEE Happy, Fear, Neutral, Total scores among schizophrenic patients. TAS-20K Factor 1(Difficulty Identifying Feelings, DDF) was also significantly correlated with PANSS-general score. There was a significant correlation between KOFEE Happy face score and PANSS-negative score among schizophrenic patients. Conclusion：Schizophrenic patients are aware of their emotions through bodily sensations or sensorimotor enactive. Our findings support that schizophrenic patients’ emotional awareness level is behind the restricted expression of single emotion. KOFEE(Total) and LEAS-K(Self) will be useful tools to evaluate schizophrenia.