Too close for comfort? Social distance and emotion perception in remitted bipolar I disorder

Abstract

Introduction: Bipolar disorder (BD) is a chronic psychiatric disorder that is associated with heightened and persistent positive emotion (Gruber, 2011; Johnson, 2005). Yet, we know little about how troubled emotion responding may translate into dynamic face-to-face interactions involving others, especially in contexts where automatic social regulation of personal distance from others is key to maintaining social boundaries. Method: Using a novel social distance paradigm adapted from a prior work (Kennedy et al., 2009), participants with a clinical history of bipolar I disorder (n = 30) and healthy controls (CTL; n = 31) provided online measurements of social distance preferences in response to positive, negative, and neutral facial images, as well as subsequent social judgment and emotion perception ratings. Results: Results suggest no group differences on social distance, social perception, or general emotion perception ratings. However, exploratory analyses suggest that the BD group rated positive images higher in happiness, but lower in amusement, compared to the CTL group. Conclusion: These findings contribute to a growing literature on socioemotional processes in BD.