Written on the Face: Self- and Expert-Rated Impairments in Personality Functioning Are Differently Related to the Expression of Disgust Toward an Interviewer.

Although current theories suggest that impairments in personality functioning are at the core of personality pathology, there is a lack of research on how these impairments play out behaviorally. The aim of the present study was to investigate disgust expressions as indicators of personality dysfunction. Facial expressions were investigated in a sample of 78 female participants during an in-depth clinical interview and coded with the Facial Action Coding System. Personality dysfunction was assessed with self- and expert ratings. By applying a joint regression analysis, the authors found that disgust expressions toward the interviewer were positively associated with expert ratings but negatively associated with self-ratings. In other words, disgust expressions were indicative of an underestimation of personality dysfunction by participants as compared with experts. This suggests that interactional expressions of disgust might be a behavioral marker of personality dysfunction when individuals are unaware of or deny impairments.

[Facial expressions of negative emotions in clinical interviews: The development, reliability and validity of a categorical system for the attribution of functions to facial expressions of negative emotions]. / Negative mimische Affekte im Kontext klinischer Interviews: Entwicklung, Reliabilität und Validität einer Methode zur Funktionsbestimmung negativer Affektmimik.

OBJECTIVES: The development (Study 1) and validation (Study 2) of a categorical system for the attribution of facial expressions of negative emotions to specific functions. METHOD: The facial expressions observed inOPDinterviews (OPD-Task-Force 2009) are coded according to the Facial Action Coding System (FACS; Ekman et al. 2002) and attributed to categories of basic emotional displays using EmFACS (Friesen & Ekman 1984). In Study 1 we analyze a partial sample of 20 interviews and postulate 10 categories of functions that can be arranged into three main categories (interactive, self and object). In Study 2 we rate the facial expressions (n=2320) from the OPD interviews (10 minutes each interview) of 80 female subjects (16 healthy, 64 with DSM-IV diagnosis; age: 18-57 years) according to the categorical system and correlate them with problematic relationship experiences (measured with IIP,Horowitz et al. 2000). RESULTS: Functions of negative facial expressions can be attributed reliably and validly with the RFE-Coding System. CONCLUSIONS: The attribution of interactive, self-related and object-related functions allows for a deeper understanding of the emotional facial expressions of patients with mental disorders.

[First results on the reliability and validity of the OPD-2 axis structure]. / Erste Ergebnisse zu Reliabilität und Validität der OPD-2 Strukturachse.

OBJECTIVES: In 2006, the manual of the Operationalized Psychodynamic Diagnostics (OPD) was revised and published in its second edition (OPD-2; Arbeitskreis OPD2006). In particular the axis structure was markedly changed. This study assessed the interrater reliability and validity. METHODS: Two independent raters judged 139 persons with OPD-2 on the axis structure (a third rater judged a partial sample of 20 persons). In addition, patients were investigated with SCID-Interviews for DSM-IV diagnosis and with the following questionnaires: Brief-Symptom-Checklist (BSI), Inventory of Personality Organisation (IPO), and Borderline Personality Inventory (BPI). RESULTS: Interrater agreement for the axis structure showed sufficient to good results for weighted kappas. The axis structure showed high correlations with the number of DSM-IV diagnoses and the main scales of the BSI, IPO, and BPI. CONCLUSION: The OPD-2 axis structure is a reliable and valid instrument for the assessment of the crucial clinical dimension of "psychic structure".

[A self report questionnaire for the assessment of emotional experience and emotion regulation]. / Emotionserleben und Emotionsregulation und ihr Zusammenhang mit psychischer Symptomatik.

In this article first results of a self report questionnaire to assess emotional experience and emotion regulation (EER) will be presented. The questionnaire assesses the emotional experience (first part), and the regulation of an emotion individually selected as difficult (second part). Psychometrical properties will be shown; a comparison between patients (n = 323) and healthy controls (n = 281) did show significant distinctions for emotional experience as well as for regulation of emotion. A first examination of validity was done with common clinical instruments (BSI, FBL and IIP), and show high relationship with symptomatic burden. The results show a satisfying quality of the questionnaire, good validity and a high clinical relevance.