The Relationship between Expressed and Experienced Emotion in Depression

Abstract

Sixty right-handed adult subjects, divided equally into three groups (mildly depressed, normal, and “low normal”) on the basis of the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale, were exposed for forty seconds each to forty-eight imagery items designed to reflect happy, sad, angry, and fearful situations. Expressed emotion (facial electromyography) and experienced emotion (self-report) were measured. Results replicated and extended previous findings, suggesting both a “dissociation” between expressed and experienced happiness and an abnormal degree of “association” between expressed and experienced sadness for depressives and possibly “low normals.”