Table 7.
Distinct Emotion-Related Nonverbal Behaviors in Mental Health Disorders Compared to Healthy Controls
| Major Depressive Disorder | |
| • Reduced facial expressivity [355, 356] | • Reduced variability of head movements [377, 378] |
| • Less eyebrow movements [379, 358, 380, 381] | • More nonspecific gaze patterns [382] |
| • Looking-down behaviors [382] | • Less eye contact with another person [358] |
| • Reduced hand gestures [379, 381] | • Less smiling [379, 358, 380, 383, 381, 360, 359] |
| • More self-touching [358, 383, 381, 360] | • Slower voice [384] |
| • Reduced rate of speech [384] | • More monotonic voice [385, 386, 369, 387] |
| • Reduced speech [384] | • Reduced pitch range [384] |
| • Slower movements or abnormal postures [388, 372] | • Reduced gross motor activity [379, 389, 360] |
| • Reduced stride length and upward lifting motion of legs [390, 391] | • Slower Gait speed [392, 390, 393] |
| • Arm swing and vertical head movements while walking [393] | • Lateral upper body sway while walking [393] |
| • Slumped posture [394, 393, 395] | • Forward inclination of head and shoulders [396, 397] |
| • Balance difficulties during motor and cognitive tasks [398, 399, 393, 400, 401] | |
| • Impaired balance and lower gait velocity [390, 394, 393, 402] | • Difficulty recognizing emotions [403, 404] |
|
| |
| Bipolar Disorder | |
| • Reduced levels of facial expressivity [405] | • Greater speech tonality [406, 407, 408] |
| • Less gross motor activity [360] | |
| • More frequent and longer speech pauses when in depressive states [406, 409] | |
| • More postural sway [410] | • Difficulty recognizing emotions [411, 412] |
|
| |
| Schizophrenia | |
| • Reduced facial expressivity [413, 355, 356, 414] | • Less upper facial movement expressing positive emotion [356, 415, 416] |
| • Less smiling [358, 417, 418] | |
| • Reduced smiling eye gaze and head tilting associated with negative symptoms [419, 420] | |
| • Fewer hand gestures when speaking [373, 421, 419, 422, 420] | • Fewer gestures and poses [421] |
| • Less head nodding [373, 419] | • Less head movement [374, 358] |
| • Lower total time talking [423, 424, 371] | • Slower rate of speech [425, 426] |
| • Longer speech pauses [423, 424, 371, 427] | • More pauses [371] |
| • Flat affect [371] | • Forward head posture and lower spine curvature [428] |
| • Balance difficulties and increased postural sway, [429, 430, 431, 432] | • Difficulty walking in a straight fine [433, 434] |
| • Slower velocity of walking and shorter strides [435] | • Difficulty recognizing emotions [411, 412, 436] |
|
| |
| Anxiety Disorders | |
| • Less eye contact [437, 438, 439] | • Instability of gaze direction [440] |
| • Grimacing [437] | • Nonsymmetrical lip deformations [441] |
| • Strained face [442] | • Eyelid twitching [442] |
| • Smiled less, [438] | • More frequent and faster head movements [443, 444, 445] |
| • More and faster blinking [443, 446, 447, 448] | • Nodded less [438] |
| • Small rapid head movements [446] | • Made fewer gestures [438] |
| • More physical movements indicative of nervousness (e.g., bouncing their knees, fidgety, reposuring [449, 450, 451, 452, 453, 438] | |
| • Self touching [449] | • Speech errors [454] |
| • Speech dysfluency [437] | • More jittery voice [455, 456] |
| • Slow gait velocity associated with fear of falling [457, 458, 459] | • Balance dysfunction [460, 461, 462, 463, 464] |
| • Slower speed walking [463] | • Shorter steps [463] |
| • Enhanced recognition of anxiety [465, 466] | |
|
| |
| postTraumatic Stress Disorder | |
| • Monotonous slower flatter speech [369, 467, 468, 469] | • Reduced facial emotion [470] |
| • More anger, aggression, hostility, less joy [471, 470] | |
|
| |
| Autism Spectrum Disorder | |
| • Distinctions in gait [472] | • Difficulty recognizing emotions [473] |