A multicomponent approach toward understanding emotion regulation in schizophrenia

Objectives: Emotion deficits are well documented in people with schizophrenia. Far less is known about their ability to implement emotion regulation strategies. We sought to explore whether people with schizophrenia can modify their emotion responses similar to controls.

Methods: People with (n = 25) and without (n = 21) schizophrenia were instructed to amplify positive-emotion expression, reappraise negative emotion experience, and suppress physiological response. Multiple components of emotion response were measured (experience, expression, and physiology).

Results: Although people with schizophrenia showed increased positive expressivity following amplification and decreased negative emotion experience following reappraisal, overall, they expressed less positive emotion and experienced more negative emotion compared with controls. Neither group was effective at physiological suppression.

Conclusions: Together these findings suggest that people with schizophrenia can engage in amplification and reappraisal when explicitly instructed to do so, albeit additional practice may be necessary to modify emotion responses to levels similar to controls.