Impact of Induced Moods, Sensation Seeking, and Emotional Contagion on Economic Decisions Under Risk

In addition to probabilities of monetary gains and losses, personality traits, socio-economic factors, and specific contexts such as emotions and framing influence financial risk taking. Here, we investigated the effects of joyful, neutral, and sad mood states on participants’ risk-taking behaviour in a simple task with safe and risky options. We also analysed the effect of framing on risk taking. In different trials, a safe option was framed in terms of either financial gains or losses. Moreover, we investigated the effects of emotional contagion and sensation-seeking personality traits on risk taking in this task. We did not observe a significant effect of induced moods on risk taking. Sad mood resulted in a slight non-significant trend of risk aversion compared to a neutral mood. Our results partially replicate previous findings regarding the presence of the framing effect. As a novel finding, we observed that participants with a low emotional contagion score demonstrated increased risk aversion during a sad mood and a similar trend at the edge of significance was present in high sensation seekers. Overall, our results highlight the importance of taking into account personality traits of experimental participants in financial risk-taking studies.

Perceiving Positive Facial Expression Can Relieve Depressive Moods: The Effect of Emotional Contagion on Mood in People With Subthreshold Depression

Emotional contagion is a phenomenon by which an individual’s emotions directly trigger similar emotions in others. We explored the possibility that perceiving others’ emotional facial expressions affect mood in people with subthreshold depression (sD). Around 49 participants were divided into the following four groups: participants with no depression (ND) presented with happy faces; ND participants presented with sad faces; sD participants presented with happy faces; and sD participants presented with sad faces. Participants were asked to answer an inventory about their emotional states before and after viewing the emotional faces to investigate the influence of emotional contagion on their mood. Regardless of depressive tendency, the groups presented with happy faces exhibited a slight increase in the happy mood score and a decrease in the sad mood score. The groups presented with sad faces exhibited an increased sad mood score and a decreased happy mood score. These results demonstrate that emotional contagion affects the mood in people with sD, as well as in individuals with ND. These results indicate that emotional contagion could relieve depressive moods in people with sD. It demonstrates the importance of the emotional facial expressions of those around people with sD such as family and friends from the viewpoint of emotional contagion.

Network Analysis of Depressive Symptoms Among Residents of Wuhan in the Later Stage of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Background: Depression has been a common mental health problem during the COVID-19 epidemic. From a network perspective, depression can be conceptualized as the result of mutual interactions among individual symptoms, an approach that may elucidate the structure and mechanisms underlying this disorder. This study aimed to examine the structure of depression among residents in Wuhan, the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak in China, in the later stage of the COVID-19 pandemic.Methods: A total of 2,515 participants were recruited from the community via snowball sampling. The Patient Health Questionnaire was used to assess self-reported depressive symptoms with the QuestionnaireStar program. The network structure and relevant centrality indices of depression were examined in this sample.Results: Network analysis revealed Fatigue, Sad mood, Guilt and Motor disturbances as the most central symptoms, while Suicide and Sleep problems had the lowest centrality. No significant differences were found between women and men regarding network structure (maximum difference = 0.11, p = 0.44) and global strength (global strength difference = 0.04; female vs. male: 3.78 vs. 3.83, p = 0.51), a finding that suggests there are no gender differences in the structure or centrality of depressive symptoms.Limitations: Due to the cross-sectional study design, causal relationships between these depressive symptoms or dynamic changes in networks over time could not be established.Conclusions: Fatigue, Sad mood, Guilt, and Motor disturbances should be prioritized as targets in interventions and prevention efforts to reduce depression among residents in Wuhan, in the later stage of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Network analysis of depressive symptoms in Hong Kong residents during the COVID-19 pandemic

In network theory depression is conceptualized as a complex network of individual symptoms that influence each other, and central symptoms in the network have the greatest impact on other symptoms. Clinical features of depression are largely determined by sociocultural context. No previous study examined the network structure of depressive symptoms in Hong Kong residents. The aim of this study was to characterize the depressive symptom network structure in a community adult sample in Hong Kong during the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 11,072 participants were recruited between 24 March and 20 April 2020. Depressive symptoms were measured using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9. The network structure of depressive symptoms was characterized, and indices of “strength”, “betweenness”, and “closeness” were used to identify symptoms central to the network. Network stability was examined using a case-dropping bootstrap procedure. Guilt, Sad Mood, and Energy symptoms had the highest centrality values. In contrast, Concentration, Suicide, and Sleep had lower centrality values. There were no significant differences in network global strength (p = 0.259), distribution of edge weights (p = 0.73) and individual edge weights (all p values > 0.05 after Holm–Bonferroni corrections) between males and females. Guilt, Sad Mood, and Energy symptoms were central in the depressive symptom network. These central symptoms may be targets for focused treatments and future psychological and neurobiological research to gain novel insight into depression.

Sad mood and changes in behavior after exposure to a traumatic reminder

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a trauma- and stressor-related disorder that may affect individuals who have experienced a traumatic event. Symptoms of PTSD include intrusion symptoms, avoidance of stimuli associated with the traumatic event, negative alterations in cognition and mood, and alterations in arousal and reactivity. Intrusion symptoms in children may manifest as repetitive play in which themes from the trauma are expressed. Children are often unaware of the connection between their repetitive play and the trauma. Additionally, children may experience frightening dreams without recognizable content. Compared to adults, youth may be less able to describe traumatic events and complex emotional states. It is not uncommon to be unable to recall specific events about the trauma. The evidence supporting the use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) in youth with PTSD is mixed. Trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (TF-CBT) has the greatest empirical support for pediatric PTSD.

Several weeks of low mood, decreased appetite, and poor sleep after changing schools

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is one of the most common psychiatric disorders affecting children and adolescents. The diagnostic criteria require the history of one or more depressive episodes in the absence of a history of mania. In contrast to adults, youth may experience predominantly irritable rather than sad mood. The assessment of depression should include a psychiatric evaluation, medical history, and focused laboratory studies to rule out medical and/or substance-related causes. The evaluation should also consider potential precipitants such as recent losses, interpersonal problems, or trauma. The patient should be asked directly about suicidal ideation, plans, and past attempts. Psychotherapy alone or in combination with antidepressant therapy is effective for the treatment of pediatric depression. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT) are the most well-studied psychotherapies. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are the first-line medication class and should be considered in moderate to severe cases of depression.

Network structure of depression and anxiety symptoms in Chinese female nursing students

Background Comorbidity between depressive and anxiety disorders is common. From network perspective, mental disorders arise from direct interactions between symptoms and comorbidity is due to direct interactions between depression and anxiety symptoms. The current study investigates the network structure of depression and anxiety symptoms in Chinese female nursing students and identifies the central and bridge symptoms as well as how other symptoms in present network are related to depression symptom “thoughts of death”. Methods To understand the full spectrum of depression and anxiety, we recruited 776 Chinese female nursing students with symptoms of depression and anxiety that span the full range of normal to abnormal. Depression symptoms were measured by Patient Health Questionnaire-9 while anxiety symptoms were measured by Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-Item Questionnaire. Network analysis was used to construct networks. Specifically, we computed the predictability, expected influence and bridge expected influence for each symptom and showed a flow network of “thoughts of death”. Results Nine strongest edges existed in network were from the same disorder. Four were between depression symptoms, like “sleep difficulties” and “fatigue”, and “anhedonia” and “fatigue”. Five were between anxiety symptoms, like “nervousness or anxiety” and “worry too much”, and “restlessness” and “afraid something will happen”. The symptom “fatigue”, “feeling of worthlessness” and “irritable” had the highest expected influence centrality. Results also revealed two bridge symptoms: “depressed or sad mood” and “irritable”. As to “thoughts of death”, the direct relations between it and “psychomotor agitation/retardation” and “feeling of worthlessness” were the strongest direct relations. Conclusions The current study highlighted critical central symptoms “fatigue”, “feeling of worthlessness” and “irritable” and critical bridge symptoms “depressed or sad mood” and “irritable”. Particularly, “psychomotor agitation/retardation” and “feeling of worthlessness” were identified as key priorities due to their strongest associations with suicide ideation. Implications for clinical prevention and intervention based on these symptoms are discussed.

How Drawing to Distract Improves Mood in Children

Previous research has shown that drawing improves short-term mood in children when used to distract from rather than express negative thoughts and feelings. The current study sought to examine (a) how drawing might elevate mood in children ages 6–12 by examining the role played by absorption, enjoyment, and perceived competence as well as entering an imaginary world; and (b) whether children spontaneously use drawing to distract from a sad mood. Across three studies, children were asked to think of a disappointing event. After a sad mood induction, they drew for 5 min. Mood was measured before and after the mood induction and after drawing. Three main findings emerged. First, drawing to distract led to greater absorption and enjoyment than did drawing to express. Second, children’s mood improved equally when drawing imaginary and real scenes showing that the key ingredient is that the content of the drawings be distracting in nature. Third, drawing improved mood even when children were given no instructions on the content of their drawings and children were more likely to use drawing as a way to distract themselves from a sad mood. These studies help to define the characteristics of drawing activities that foster mood improvement in children and highlight the important role of the arts in emotion regulation.