Nonverbal Social Signals Of Withdrawal In Depression
Christopher Philip
Depression is a common psychological disorder that affects people worldwide. Symptoms are varied and pervasive including affect, cognition, and behaviour.
Incidentally, nonverbal expression is central to how it is presented and maintained.
One way nonverbal expressions are thought to work in depression centers around the pleasantness or aversiveness of emotional state. As such, depression is indicated by reduced expressions such as smiling and laughter as well as other negative expressions.
Another way depression is thought to act speaks to the reduction of motivation and reduced pursuit of action toward potential rewards. This is potentially marked by reduced facial expressiveness and head movements
Previous studies, however, have looked at the expressions of depressive participants as compared to non-depressed controls. This is problematic because patients suffering from depression tend to be higher in anxiety, moodiness and jealousy and score lower on extraversion including less talkativeness, and overall energy.
Researchers lead by Jeffrey Girard, Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, have advanced a new hypothesis helping to interpret depression in affiliation. They have called it the “social withdrawal hypothesis.”
It is so termed because it deals specifically with cues related to the motivation to cooperate, comfort, and request aid. They argue that depression is marked by reduced affilitative behaviour with a simultaneous increase in non-affiliative behaviour. The net result is an increased interpersonal (between people) distance and social withdrawal.
By this idea, the authors assumed that signals of approachability should decrease in depression and expressions of hostility should increase. Previous research does indeed support this hypothesis, as smiling increases in depression coupled with hostility and lack of social engagement.
The Current Study
In the current study, depressed participants were observed over the course of treatment. In so doing, they were assessed for nonverbal behaviours during clinical interviews across multiple nonverbal behaviours. This served as a basis to control for personality traits by comparing individuals against themselves during various levels of depressive symptoms.
The subjects were watched for head motion and four facial movements.
Facial expressions recorded include:
a) Lip corner puller or smile expression (AU 12; AU = Action Unit). The cue is a prototypical expression of happiness and positive affect and may signal affiliative intent.
b) Dimpler expression (AU 14). The signal is prototypical of contempt and negative in affect and may signal non-affilitative intent. The expression can also serve to obscure an underlying smile or express embarrassment or ambivalence.
c) Lip corner depressor expression (AU 15). A prototypical expression of sadness and negative in affect and may signal affilitative intent if it is associated with a desire to show or receive empathy.
d) Lip presser expression (AU 24). This is a prototypical expression of anger and an implicated in negative affect which may signal non-affiliative intent.
Head motion was assessed for amplitude and velocity. The researchers hypothesized that head movement behaviour should be associated with an effort to communicate and thus signal affiliative intent. Head movement was predicted to be reduced in amplitude and velocity.
Therefore a depressed state would be marked by reduced head velocity and amplitude, reduced affiliative expressions (expressions a and c) and increase in non-affiliative expressions (expressions b and d)
During treatment the subjects either received antidepressants or psychotherapy. Symptoms were evaluated at 1, 7, 13 and 21 weeks. Video recordings were produced of the interviews which were later analyzed for nonverbal cues with both manual and automatic coding systems.
Results of The Study
The results showed that when participants suffered most they found more affiliative facial expressions Lip corner puller or smile expression and Lip corner depressor expression (AU 12 and 15) and more non-affiliative facial expressions Dimpler expression (AU 14).
Therefore depression is associated with less smiling and more contempt and embarrassment. Participants also had diminished head motion with less amplitude and velocity when suffering the most.
The results are consistent with the “social withdrawal hypothesis.”
Therefore, depressed individuals use nonverbal behaviour to maintain and increase interpersonal distance. By this theory, as individuals recovered, they send out more signals showing a willingness to affiliate. So as depression abated, smiling increased and expressions of contempt and embarrassment decreased.
Take Away Message
It is clear that nonverbal expressions are linked to underlying emotion in depression and accurately predict severity of suffering.
Nonverbal affect point to a deficit in communicating desire for help to others and that others may read the cues in such a way that it is not conducive in offering help to sufferers.
If one is suffering from depression, then it should be understood that the signals are strong indicators of a desire to avoid socialization.
On the other hand, the cues for people not suffering from depression are also relevant if one wishes to send cues of affiliation.
Image Credit: Victor
Resources
Girard, Jeffrey M.; Jeffrey F. Cohna; Mohammad H.Mahoor S.; Mohammad Mavadati;
Zakia Hammal; and Dean P. Rosenwalda. Nonverbal Social Withdrawal In Depression: Evidence From Manual And Automatic Analyses. Image and Vision Computing. 2019.