feelings linked to lack of progress in treatment for multiple sclerosis patients in a healthcare setting
Facial Expressions and Emotional States in MS Therapeutic Decisions
A new study involving 38 neurologists with expertise in Multiple Sclerosis (MS) sheds light on how facial expressions and emotional states may influence therapeutic decisions in MS care.
The study, conducted across Canada, found that neurologists often rely on patients’ facial expressions and emotional cues as part of a holistic clinical assessment. Facial expressions can reflect pain, fatigue, depression, or cognitive strain associated with MS, helping clinicians gauge disease impact beyond objective measures.
Recognizing emotional distress via facial analysis can influence neurologists' choices by highlighting the need for integrated psychological or symptomatic support, affecting treatment plans. Although explicit studies linking MS facial/emotional cues to direct therapeutic decision-making are scarce, related neurological disorders demonstrate how facial muscular dysfunction and micro-expressions provide diagnostic and prognostic information that shape care approaches.
Ambiguity Aversion and Therapeutic Decisions
The study also found that ambiguity aversion, the tendency to avoid options where the outcome probabilities or risks are uncertain or unclear, can play a role in therapeutic decisions. In complex diseases like MS, where treatment responses are highly individual and prognoses variable, ambiguity aversion can lead neurologists to favor established treatments with better-known efficacy profiles rather than novel or less certain therapies.
Emotional states, perceived risks, and ambiguity can interplay: neurologists may interpret uncertain or ambiguous clinical signals (including nonverbal cues like facial expressions) with caution, potentially tilting decisions to more conservative or familiar treatments to minimize perceived uncertainty.
The Study's Findings
The study, which involved 34 out of 38 (89.4%) participating neurologists, recorded facial muscle activations and emotional expressions during the study while participants made therapeutic choices. Participants answered questions about their clinical practice, aversion to ambiguity, and management of simulated case-scenarios.
The mean age of participants was 44.6 (11.5) years. Most common muscle activations included mouth open (23.4%), brow furrow (20.9%), brow raise (17.6%), and eye widening (13.1%).
The study found that aversion to ambiguity in the financial domain was associated with an increased likelihood of treatment initiation (OR 1.56, 95%CI 1.32-1.86). However, disgust was the single emotional expression that attenuated the effect of aversion to ambiguity on treatment initiation.
Brow furrow and lip suck were associated with an increase in treatment initiation prevalence, while disgust and surprise were associated with a lower treatment initiation score and lower prevalence of treatment initiation.
Treatment initiation was defined as lack of treatment initiation or escalation when there was clear evidence of clinical and radiological disease activity.
The study aimed to evaluate the relationship between emotions and therapeutic decisions in MS care. Mixed effects models and mediation analyses were used to evaluate the relationship between ambiguity aversion, facial muscle activity/emotional expressions, and treatment initiation measured as a binary variable and a continuous score.
While the study provides valuable insights into the role of facial expressions and emotional states in MS therapeutic decisions, more specific or recent studies on this exact question would better clarify these associations.
References: 1. Smith, J., & Jones, M. (2020). Facial expressions and emotional states in neurological disorders: A review. Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment, 16, 1299–1310. 2. Brown, R., & Katz, L. (2018). Ambiguity aversion in decision-making: Evidence and implications. Journal of Economic Literature, 56(3), 885–937. 3. Johnson, N., & colleagues. (2019). Multiple sclerosis: Symptoms and diagnosis. Mayo Clinic. 4. Wright, A., & colleagues. (2018). Uncertainty and healthcare decision-making: A systematic review. Patient Education and Counseling, 101(2), 278–290.
- Eye tracking, as a potential tool for analyzing facial expressions, could offer valuable insights into the role of emotional states in therapeutic decisions for individuals with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and other neurological disorders.
- In the realm of health-and-wellness, therapies-and-treatments for neurological disorders like MS may be heavily influenced by the science of facial analysis, making it a crucial factor in the holistic assessment and management of these medical-conditions.
- The understanding of how ambiguity aversion impacts therapeutic decisions for MS and other neurological disorders can be bolstered by research into eye tracking and the analysis of micro-expressions, providing more precise diagnostic and prognostic information.
