Doctor’s and Patients’ Facial Expressions and Suicide Reattempt Risk Assessment

59 patients admitted to the emergency ward of the Geneva University Hospital after a suicide attempt were video-recorded during an interview with a psychiatrist blind to the patient’s file. After the interview, the interviewer was asked to assess suicide risk on a 4-point scale. At 24-month follow-up, 11 repeaters were identified. These subjects were matched with 11 of the 48 non-repeaters. The Ekman & Friesen ‘Facial Action Coding System’ was used to code facial behaviour. Differences in head & facial behavior in both patient groups & in the doctor speaking to the patients were analyzed. The doctor had a significantly higher average activation of all coded units when talking with repeaters than with nonrepeaters. The patients’ results indicate repeaters had significantly higher activity of the mouth (when not speaking) than nonrepeaters. They also looked significantly more downwards. Implications of the findings are discussed. (4 refs.)