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Male alcoholics appear to have a great deal of
difficulty recognizing emotions in verbal language, a small European study
suggests. The researchers also found that the men have a weakened ability to
show empathy. Because empathy plays a key role in interpersonal relationships,
an empathy deficit might explain part of the wider relationship problems commonly seen in alcoholics, said study author Simona Amenta, a psychology
researcher at the University of Milano-Bicocca.
Previous research has suggested that alcoholics tend
to misinterpret emotions and have a hard time distinguishing other people's
feelings from their voices or by looking at their facial expressions or body
postures. The new study examined whether male alcoholics also would have a hard
time perceiving emotions in verbal messages.
The researchers looked at 44 men — half were healthy
males, and the other 22 were recovering alcoholics who had been sober for at
least two weeks, and were enrolled in a detoxification program in Belgium.
Researchers asked the men to read stories that had either an ironic or
non-ironic ending, and to answer questions about the characters' emotional
states and communication intentions.
An empathy deficit
The scientists decided to use irony because
understanding its meaning in written language is a complex form of
communication that involves reasoning skills along with the ability to pick up
on subtle emotional cues. These thinking skills may be weakened or damaged in
people who have chronically abused alcohol. When they were reading ironic
stories, the healthy male participants perceived them as displaying negative
emotions and attitudes. But male alcoholics were less likely to recognize
irony, and they judged ironic or sarcastic comments as expressing positive
emotions.
Researchers also found that alcoholics misinterpreted
negative emotions as expressing criticism, and positive emotions as expressing
amusement. The findings were published online today (Nov. 8) in the journal
Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research. "This result is very
interesting, since it confirms that alcoholic subjects tend to underestimate
negative emotions and overestimate positive ones," Amenta said. This
tendency might result in an underestimation of the possible negative consequences
of risky situations or problematic interpersonal relationships. "Our study indicates that the impairments
observed in alcoholics' social interactions might be affected by their
difficulties in correctly recognizing emotions displayed in verbal
communications," Amenta said.
A new research emphasis
"This study adds to a growing body of literature
that shows there are abnormalities in different aspects of emotional perception
and expression in alcoholic individuals," said Marlene Oscar-Berman, a
neuroscientist at the Boston University School of Medicine who has researched
the effects of alcohol on the brain and behavior. Studying the emotional manifestations
of alcohol is a relatively new area of emphasis, Oscar-Berman said. But it
points to the social problems created when alcohol destroys aspects of a
person's life.
For example, when an alcoholic has difficulties
perceiving the subtle nuances in emotional communication, he or she tends not
to receive positive reinforcement from other people. This might create a
vicious cycle: A lack of positive social interaction may make alcoholics feel
awkward, and so they drink more, which puts off others around them.
Oscar-Berman noted the study did not include women, so
its findings may not apply to female alcoholics. Her own research has found big differences between men and women alcoholics in areas of the brain that
control emotional function. She says another major limitation is that it tested
men who had been sober for only two weeks. "There is quite a bit a
research suggesting that alcohol doesn't leave the body for a minimum of three
weeks after a person quits drinking, so you may have to wait until alcohol is
out of the system," Oscar-Berman said. People who have been sober for six
months may not have these emotional deficits, she said.
Source: My Health News
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