THE POTENTIAL IMPACT OF PSYCHIATRIC TREATMENT UPON MOTHER-CHILD COMMUNICATION

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Affective language between depressed mothers and their children is examined to determine whether differences in mothers' psychiatric treatment corresponds to differences in their ability to talk with their children about feelings. This involves assessing (1) mother's accuracy in interpreting emotional expression to her child, (2) mother's ability to correct her child's inaccurate interpretation of facial expressions, (3) mother's ability to qualify and elaborate discussion in emotion terms. A comparison by ANOVA revealed no significant differences between groups on either the emotion terms or accuracy variables. A subsequent comparison by t-test of the depressed mothers with and without psychotherapy indicated significant differences in their affective communication patterns: Mothers who have had psychotherapy were 1) more likely to make comments about negative emotions (e.g., sadness, anger), 2) more accurate in communicating specifically about these negative emotions, 3) less likely to elaborate upon these feelings, and 4) more able to accurately interpret emotional expression than were depressed mothers with no treatment.