Disorder-Specific Profiles of Self-Perceived Emotional Abilities in Schizophrenia and Major Depressive Disorder

Deficits in social cognition are a core feature of neuropsychiatric disorders. The purpose of this study was to compare profiles of self-perceived abilities across the core domains of emotional functioning between patients with schizophrenia (n = 22), major depressive disorder (n = 31) and healthy participants (n = 43) with the Self-report Emotional Ability Scale (SEAS). Profile analyses were used to explore group differences in the overall level of self-perceived effectiveness of emotional functioning and in the patterns in which the four functions of emotion perception and regulation in the intra- and inter-personal domains are arranged to each other. Both patient groups showed significantly lower overall levels of self-perceived emotional functioning compared to healthy controls. Most importantly, we found significant differences between patient groups in their profile patterns. Patients with schizophrenia indicated experiencing difficulties in all investigated domains, but the profile pattern largely matched that of healthy individuals. Instead, the profile of patients with depression was much more accentuated, showing lower perceived effectiveness of emotion perception and regulation in the intra-personal domain compared to inter-personal functions. Our results of disorder-specific emotional deficits may have profound implications for early screening and identification of at-risk populations as well as recovery-oriented interventions.