Journal of affective disorders
-
Uncontrollable stress is frequently accompanied by a primarily opioid-mediated stress analgesia. In posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) exaggerated stress-induced analgesia to trauma reminders was proposed. The present study investigated whether enhanced analgesia occurs in response to a trauma-unrelated cognitive stressor in PTSD. ⋯ These findings show enhanced stress reactivity and accompanying reduced pain perception in PTSD-patients in contrast to traumatized participants without PTSD. The results suggest that the previously reported enhanced analgesic response after trauma-related stress in PTSD transfers to trauma-unrelated stressors.
-
The hopelessness theory of depression posits that individuals with negative cognitive styles are at an increased risk for depression following negative life events. In neuroimaging studies, brain gray matter volume abnormalities correlate with the presence of depressive disorders. However, it is unknown whether changes in gray matter volume also appear in healthy individuals with cognitive vulnerability to depression (CVD). ⋯ Reductions in brain gray matter volume exist widely in individuals with CVD. In addition, there exist similar abnormalities in gray matter volume in both CVD subjects and MDD patients. Reductions of gray matter volume in the left precentral gyrus might be correlated to the negative cognitive styles, as well as an increased risk for depression.
-
Little is known about whether cognitive/affective depressive symptoms or somatic/affective depressive symptoms are associated with inflammation in heart failure (HF), or that the relation is confounded with disease severity. ⋯ Baseline cognitive/affective depressive symptoms were prospectively associated with sTNFR1 and sTNFR2 in HF patients, while change in somatic/affective depressive symptoms was associated with sTNFR2, independent from clinical and demographic covariates. Further studies are warranted to replicate these findings and to examine the association between depression dimensions, inflammation and prognosis in HF.
-
Previous neuroimaging studies found evidence of brain functional and structural abnormalities in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD), but they rarely excluded compounding effects of some important factors, such as medication and brain degeneration. This study sought to explore the brain biochemical changes of first-episode, treatment-naive, non-late-life adult patients with MDD in the frontal white matter and gray matter by using proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H MRS). ⋯ These findings suggest that biochemical abnormalities in prefrontal white matter may occur early in the course of MDD and may be related to the neuropathology of depression.
-
The study of near-fatal suicide attempts may provide insight into the minds of suicidal subjects. The aim of the study was to investigate the relationship of intent and lethality in medically serious and medically non-serious suicide attempts and to examine relationship of specific psychological and clinical variables with the subjective and objective components of suicide intent. ⋯ Suicidal individuals with depression and hopelessness who cannot signal their pain to others are at high risk of committing a medically serious suicide attempts.