Social cognition in PTSD
Research type
Research Study
Full title
An investigation of social-cognition in PTSD.
IRAS ID
149617
Contact name
Jenny Moses
Contact email
Research summary
Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) can lead to social withdrawal, feeling constantly threatened, an exaggerated startle response and impaired relationships with others (Reswick et al, 2012). Whereas social support has been found to be a protective factor in PTSD (Milan et al, 2013). Relationships with others and a person's ability to engage in relationships could be instrumental in recovery. An ability to interpret communications is important in forming and maintaining relationships, with previous studies finding deficits in this ability (prosodic recognition) being a predictor of poor social functioning (Deveney et al, 2012).
Facial prosody is defined here as the ability to recognise the non-verbal aspects of language that convey emotions, for example the ability to correctly identify facial expressions. The ability to understand what emotion is being conveyed, without relying on the content of the speech, is what is referred to here as prosodic recognition. For example, “I’m fine” could be interpreted in many different ways, depending on the intonation and could convey a number of different emotions. This present study will seek to establish if deficits in facial and prosodic recognition have a connection to deficits in social functioning (interpersonal difficulties).This study will employ a multiple-groups experimental design to identify if those individuals with PTSD show impairments in facial expression recognition and prosodic recognition. The study will also gain data on the respondents social support, attachments and their perceived relationships with others through completion of questionnaires. Data will be analysed with ANOVA's.
REC name
London - Camberwell St Giles Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/LO/1423
Date of REC Opinion
8 Sep 2014
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion