Non-Verbal Communication in Depression

How does mood affect non-verbal communication, the gazes, gestures and facial expressions which accompany dialogue? This important monograph, based on a longitudinal study of five hundred interviews with depressed patients and normal subjects, systematically examines the ways in which mental illness may affect non-verbal interaction patterns. A number of specific patterns of non-verbal behaviour are identified which relate directly to psychological state and also depend on the interaction of the participants in a dialogue. Non-verbal Communication in Depression is not only rich in much-needed empirical data, but it also offers a fresh theoretical and methodological perspective on communicative behaviour in general. Most importantly, perhaps, it represents a real advance in our understanding of the functions of various non-verbal mechanisms and thus provides the clinical psychologist and psychiatrist with an important diagnostic tool.