This concerns all movements that express emotion.
We distinguish:
- Facial Expression
You can tell a person’s emotions by non-verbal cues, e.g. joy, sadness, interest, mutual interest, anxiety, depression, irritability, shame, disgust or anger. The expression may be lively or exaggerated. This can be seen in disorders like mania or a theatrical personality. Facial expressions can be delayed or absent, which may be indicative of dementia or depressive disorder. Psychiatric disorders are characterised by a wealth of emotional dysfunction.
- Gestures
The expression of the body. Together with facial expressions, gestures make up the non-verbal expression of emotions. Depending on temperament and subculture, gestures are usually lively. A delay in gesture may be indicative of Parkinson’s disease, dementia or a depression, while too overly lively gestures may be indicative of mania or ADHD.
- Speech
Note the use of speech. An abundance of words may be indicative of logorrhoea (racing thoughts). If a patient is wordy, they need many words to clarify something. Wordiness (verbosity) is indicative of a mania or a way of presenting symptoms matching a personality disorder. The tone and pitch of one’s speech normally fluctuates. Monotonous speech may be indicative of depression, while rapid variation in pitch is indicative of theatrical personalities, anxiety and mania.
