Social Interaction in Major Depressive Disorder, Social Phobia, and Controls: the Importance of Affect

Social interactions are crucial to human beings. As technology advances, new possibilities of interaction emerge, bringing both opportunities and risks, especially when interpersonal behaviors are impaired (e.g., depression) or associated with strong fear (e.g., social phobia). The authors investigated whether technological social interactions (i.e., phone and internet/chat) are used equally as often as face-to-face social interactions in participants with mental disorders and in controls and whether differences are associated with unpleasant emotions, that is, whether the association between negative affect (NA) or positive affect (PA) differed by type of social interaction. The self-chosen social interactions of participants diagnosed with major depressive disorder (MDD) or social phobia (SP) were compared with participants without these diagnoses (control group, CG). Using event sampling methodology (ESM), participants’ everyday social behavior was sampled six times per day for one week in their natural environment. The CG engaged more often in face-to-face social interactions, while participants diagnosed with MDD or SP engaged more often in phone social interactions. Across all groups, there was a positive relationship between NA and the frequency of technological social interactions, and a positive relationship between PA and the frequency of face-to-face social interactions. The propensity to experience higher levels of PA during face-to-face social interactions and NA during technological social interactions is important to consider when selecting and planning social interactions. Clinicians may consider exploring the social interaction patterns of their patients in the light of these findings. Likewise, developers of technological interventions and clinicians using them should consider the potential that technological social interactions may increase NA.