Is nonverbal communication disrupted in interactions involving patients with schizophrenia?
Patients' symptoms are associated with the nonverbal behavior of patients and their partners. Patients' increased negative symptoms and gesture use are associated with poorer interpersonal rapport. This study provides specific evidence about how negative symptoms impact patients' social interactions.
Psychiatry just 'scrapes home' in constituting a profession but only subject to three provisos:namely (i) that psychiatrists appreciate the need to achieve a coherent body of special knowledge through a genuine creative process which necessarily results in uncomfortable tension from time to time; (ii) that we promote the art of psychiatry by cultivating an ethos of caring and sensitivity; and (iii) that we function within an articulated ethical framework with respect for codes of ethics as guidelines.