LABS researchers have found that adolescents who are experiencing mental health problems have a different way of responding to negative facial expressions.

The study found these youths are less likely to recognise angry facial expressions and more likely to recognise fearful facial expressions.

How we read others' facial expressions can influence how well we interact with other people.

This finding might help explain why people with a mental health diagnosis often don’t function as well socially.

Understanding the way these different facial expressions are processed before a young person develops a mental health problem may provide clues about how to better treat or even prevent mental illness.

There is emerging research suggesting that facial-recognition training may be helpful for those who have facial recognition processing problems.