Recent study have shown that people suffering from severe depression find it very difficult to judge the facial expression of other people specially the expression of disgust.

The research was carried out by the scholars of the University of Otago in New Zealand. Researchers Katie Douglas and Professor Richard Porter asked 68 people who were suffering with severe depression to recognize the facial expression of various people.

It was tested on a total of 96 faces with 6 basic emotions: anger, happy, sad, fearful disgusted and neutral expressions. Their performance was compared with the normal individuals.

The researchers found that the normal individuals fared much better as compared to the depression patients, thus implying the existence of an impairment of not being able to recognize the facial expression of people specially, the expression of disgust.

The explanation for the impairment is the possibility that people's emotional processing is affected in the state of being in depression.

The researchers have called for further study on the behavioral aspect of the depression patients, and the improvement in their judging capabilities with the regain of their normal mental state.