Automaticity as a Vulnerability to Depression: Daily Mood-Reactive Rumination and Early-Life Stress in People With- and Without Depression History

Depressive rumination has been conceptualized as a mental habit that is initiated automatically without conscious awareness, intent or control in response to negative mood. However, it is unknown whether depression vulnerability is characterized by elevated levels of mood-reactive rumination at the level of short-term dynamics. Using mobile ecological momentary assessment, formerly depressed individuals with a recurrent history of depression (n = 94) and non-clinical controls (n = 55) recorded in-the-moment affect and rumination ten times daily over six days, after completing measures of trait ruminative brooding, early-life stress, and habitual characteristics of negative thinking (e.g., automaticity, lack of conscious awareness, intent, and control). Momentary fluctuations in negative affect were prospectively associated with greater rumination at the next sampling occasion in formerly depressed participants whereas this pattern was not observed in non-clinical controls. In formerly depressed participants, the degree of mood-reactivity was moderated by habitual characteristics of negative thinking, which interacted with a history of early-life stress in predicting greater mood-reactive rumination. It was not, however, associated with depression course nor with the frequency of trait ruminative brooding. Mood-reactive rumination may be a vulnerability marker for depression, triggered in response to negative affect with a high degree of automaticity, making it difficult to control. It might constitute a risk independent of the depressive course and originate in early-life stress. Future studies may need to go beyond frequency and target the mood-reactivity and automaticity of ruminative thinking to reduce depression vulnerability

Altered environmental perception by parental stress and depression vulnerability: impact on mothers and offspring

Depressive mothers often find the mother-child interaction to be challenging. Parental stress may further impair mother-child attachment, which may increase the risk of negative developmental consequences. We used rats with different vulnerability to depression (Wistar and Kyoto) to investigate the impact of stress (maternal separation-MS) on maternal behaviour and adolescent offspring cognition. MS in Kyoto dams increased pup-contact, resulting in higher oxytocin levels and lower anxiety-like behaviour after weaning, while worsening their adolescent offspring cognitive behaviour. Whereas MS in Wistar dams elicited higher quality of pup-directed behaviour, increasing Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) in the offspring, which seems to have prevented a negative impact on cognition. Hypothalamic oxytocin seems to impact the salience of the social environment cues (as negative for Kyoto) leading to different coping strategies. Our findings highlight the importance of contextual and individual factors in the understanding of the oxytocin role in modulating maternal behaviour and stress regulatory processes.

An experimental test of the habit-goal framework: Depressive rumination is associated with heightened habitual characteristics of negative thinking but not habit-directed behavior control

Habitual thinking may underpin a heightened disposition to engage in rumination in response to negative mood, a widely held notion that has rarely been directly tested. The purpose of the current study was to investigate whether rumination is associated with habitual attributes and whether it is related to an imbalance in habit relative to goal-directed behavior control. University students (N=115) completed self-report questionnaires, a rumination induction paradigm and an outcome devaluation task that measures habitual vs goal-directed behavior control. Greater habitual characteristics of negative thinking (e.g., automaticity, lack of conscious awareness, control, and intent) were associated with ruminative brooding but not ruminative reflection and predicted more persistent dysphoric mood following rumination induction. Rumination was not, however, consistently associated with an imbalance in habit versus goal-directed behavior control. These findings indicate that depression vulnerability may be in the form of rumination being habitually triggered (without awareness or intent) with deleterious effects on mood. Although habitual, rumination may not be related to an imbalance in habit relative to goal-directed behavior control. These findings provide support for current theoretical accounts of rumination and set important boundary conditions in the search for specific factors that contribute to rumination as a habit.

Subgenual activation and the finger of blame: individual differences and depression vulnerability

Background Subgenual cingulate cortex (SCC) responses to self-blaming emotion-evoking stimuli were previously found in individuals prone to self-blame with and without a history of major depressive disorder (MDD). This suggested SCC activation reflects self-blaming emotions such as guilt, which are central to models of MDD vulnerability. Method Here, we re-examined these hypotheses in an independent larger sample. A total of 109 medication-free participants (70 with remitted MDD and 39 healthy controls) underwent fMRI whilst judging self- and other-blaming emotion-evoking statements. They also completed validated questionnaires of proneness to self-blaming emotions including those related to internal (autonomy) and external (sociotropy) evaluation, which were subjected to factor analysis. Results An interaction between group (remitted MDD v. Control) and condition (self- v. other-blame) was observed in the right SCC (BA24). This was due to higher SCC signal for self-blame in remitted MDD and higher other-blame-selective activation in Control participants. Across the whole sample, extracted SCC activation cluster averages for self- v. other-blame were predicted by a regression model which included the reliable components derived from our factor analysis of measures of proneness to self-blaming emotions. Interestingly, this prediction was solely driven by autonomy/self-criticism, and adaptive guilt factors, with no effect of sociotropy/dependency. Conclusions Despite confirming the prediction of SCC activation in self-blame-prone individuals and those vulnerable to MDD, our results suggest that SCC activation reflects blame irrespective of where it is directed rather than selective for self. We speculate that self-critical individuals have more extended SCC representations for blame in the context of self-agency.

A multiple levels of analysis examination of the performance goal model of depression vulnerability in preadolescent children

If performance goals (i.e., motivation to prove ability) increase children's vulnerability to depression (Dykman, 1998), why are they overlooked in the psychopathology literature? Evidence has relied on self-report or observational methods and has yet to articulate how this vulnerability unfolds across levels of analysis implicated in stress–depression linkages; for example, hypothalamic–pituitaryadrenal axis (HPA), sympathetic nervous system (SNS). Utilizing a multiple-levels-of-analysis approach (Cicchetti, 2010), this experimental study tested Dykman's goal orientation model of depression vulnerability in a community sample of preadolescents (N = 121, Mage = 10.60 years, Range = 9.08–12.00 years, 51.6% male). Self-reports of performance goals, attachment security, and subjective experience of internalizing difficulties were obtained in addition to objective behavioral (i.e., task persistence) and physiologic arousal (i.e., salivary cortisol, skin conductance level) responses to the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) and two randomly assigned coping conditions: avoidance, distraction. Children with performance goals reported greater internalizing difficulties and exhibited more dysregulated TSST physiologic responses (i.e., HPA hyperreactivity, SNS protracted recovery), yet unexpectedly displayed greater TSST task persistence and more efficient physiologic recovery during avoidance relative to distraction. These associations were stronger and nonsignificant in the context of insecure and secure attachment, respectively. Findings illustrate a complex matrix of in-the-moment, integrative psychobiological relationships linking performance goals to depression vulnerability.

The Impact of Emotional Intelligence Level on The Depression Vulnerability

Introduction: Recently the issue of emotional intelligence has become a widespread theme of discussion. This review paper is made a contribution to this debate. Discovering of effective predictive and protective factors for depression would have far-reaching consequences for society, science and economy. Material and Methods: To investigate this issue, we searched articles available in the Google Scholar and PudMed databases under the following terms: emotional intelligence, depression, emotional intelligence and depression for the years 1999-2019. Accessible literature allowed to show basic information of emotional intelligence, detect a system of relationships between emotional intelligence level and depression, and present recommendations. Results and Discussion: The result of this analysis is a statement that all components of emotional intelligence can be a defense against depression. People with high abilities in regulation their own emotions have large social support, what protect them against depression. The capable managing one’s own and others’ emotions create large and deep interpersonal relationships, what provide more emotional support and tangible assistance during everyday challenges. Stressful life events are among the most powerful predictors of depression, and high level of emotional intelligence enable to cope with them more effectively. Conclusions: The present text will constitute an impulse to explore this theme more. Moreover, there is a recommendation for researchers to create more effective and simplified tests for examining the level of emotional intelligence in case of spreading them much more and use them in a routine psychiatric practice. A confirmation of the title hypothesis can stand a key to struggle with depression.