Elise C. Bennik

Anhedonia and depressed mood in adolescence: course, stability, and reciprocal relation in the TRAILS study

Adolescence is marked by increases in the incidence of major depression (MDD), a disorder recognized as one of the leading causes of disability. Anhedonia and depressed mood predict both onset and chronicity of major depression (MDD), but have never been studied together longitudinally in the general adolescent population. The present study examined (1) the course and the stability of anhedonia and depressed mood and (2) their cross-sectional and longitudinal relations during adolescence. The study cohort consisted of 2,230 adolescents. Anhedonia and depressed mood were assessed with items of the YSR and ASR self-report forms at four measurement waves between ages 11 and 19. The proportion of adolescents reporting anhedonia decreased between ages 11 and 19, while the proportion of female adolescents reporting depressed mood increased. The stability of anhedonia and the cross-sectional association between anhedonia and depressed mood was larger at age 19 than at age 11. We found a mutual association between anhedonia and depressed mood without a clear temporal sequence. The presence of anhedonia at the end of adolescence might put adolescents at increased risk for MDD given the increasingly stronger stability and association with depressed mood. This suggests that it becomes more difficult to prevent MDD during late adolescence compared with early and middle adolescence.

The relation between empathy and depressive symptoms in a Dutch population sample

BACKGROUND Impairments in social functioning are common in individuals with (sub)clinical levels of depression. One possible underlying mechanism of this relationship is low empathy. The present study examined linear and non-linear associations between empathy and depressive symptoms, and whether these associations were moderated by gender. METHODS Using the Empathy Quotient scale, cognitive and affective empathy were assessed using a large convenience sample from the general Dutch population (N = 3076). Depressive symptoms were indexed by the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS) and the Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology (QIDS-SR16). RESULTS Low cognitive empathy was associated with more depressive symptoms. There was a weak positive relation between affective empathy and depressive symptoms, indexed by the QIDS rather than the DASS. LIMITATIONS Generalizing results to the general population remains difficult with a convenience sample. Self-reported data may be affected by social-desirability or sex-stereotypical reporting biases. CONCLUSIONS Our results support a linear relationship between cognitive empathy and symptoms of depression. There was some evidence for non-linear associations and a moderating role of gender, but these patterns were not observed across all types of analysis.

The effectiveness of attentional bias modification for substance use disorder symptoms in adults: a systematic review

BackgroundAttentional bias modification (ABM) interventions have been developed to address addiction by reducing attentional bias for substance-related cues. This study provides a systematic review of the effectiveness of ABM interventions in decreasing symptoms of addictive behaviour, taking baseline levels of attentional bias and changes in attentional bias into account.MethodsWe included randomised and non-randomised studies that investigated the effectiveness of ABM interventions in heavy-using adults and treatment-seeking individuals with symptoms of substance use disorder to manipulate attentional bias and to reduce substance use-related symptoms. We searched for relevant English peer-reviewed articles without any restriction for the year of publication using PsycINFO, PubMed, and ISI Web in August 2016. Study quality was assessed regarding reporting, external validity, internal validity, and power of the study.ResultsEighteen studies were included: nine studies reported on ABM intervention effects in alcohol use, six studies on nicotine use, and three studies on opiate use. The included studies differed with regard to type of ABM intervention (modified dot probe task n = 14; Alcohol Attention Control Training Programme n = 4), outcome measures, amount and length of provided sessions, and context (clinic versus laboratory versus home environment). The study quality mostly ranged from low average to high average (one study scored below the quality cut-off). Ten studies reported significant changes of symptoms of addictive behaviour, whereas eight studies found no effect of ABM interventions on symptoms. However, when restricted to multi-session ABM intervention studies, eight out of ten studies found effects on symptoms of addiction. Surprisingly, these effects on symptoms of addictive behaviour showed no straightforward relationship with baseline attentional bias and its change from baseline to post-test.ConclusionsDespite a number of negative findings and the diversity of studies, multi-session ABM interventions, especially in the case of alcohol and when the Alcohol Attention Control Training Programme was used, appear to have positive effects on symptoms of addictive behaviour. However, more rigorous well-powered future research in clinical samples is needed before firm conclusions regarding the effectiveness of ABM interventions can be drawn.Systematic review registrationRegistration number PROSPERO: CRD42016046823

Prefrontal cortex activation during a cognitive reappraisal task is associated with real-life negative affect reactivity

The neural substrate of cognitive reappraisal has been well-mapped. Individuals who successfully downregulate negative affect (NA) by reshaping their thoughts about a potentially emotional situation show augmented activity in the prefrontal cortex (PFC), with attenuated activity in the amygdala. We performed functional neuroimaging with experience sampling to determine whether individual differences in brain activation correspond to differences in real-life NA. While being scanned, 69 female students (aged 18–25 years) were asked to perform a cognitive reappraisal task. In addition, repeated assessments (5/day, 14 days) of affect and minor events in real-life were conducted. Individual t-maps were created for an instructed downregulation contrast (downregulate negative–attend negative) and an uninstructed regulation contrast (attend negative–attend neutral). Mean beta values were extracted from a priori defined regions of interest in the bilateral amygdala and PFC and were correlated with three daily life NA measures: baseline (mean) NA, NA variability, and NA reactivity to negative events. Only one out of twelve correlations for the amygdalae was nominally significant, which did not survive correction for multiple comparisons. PFC activation in the instructed and uninstructed regulation contrasts explained approximately 10% of the variance in NA reactivity; stronger recruitment during the attend-negative condition was correlated with lower reactivity levels. The degree to which individuals spontaneously engage frontal clusters may be a critical aspect of real-life emotional reactivity. The findings of this study provide a partial external validation of the cognitive reappraisal task, suggesting that frontal brain activation during implicit task conditions may have the strongest connection with real-life behaviors.

Negative body image: Relationships with heightened disgust propensity, disgust sensitivity, and self-directed disgust

Consistent with the view that disgust might be involved in persistent body dissatisfaction, there is preliminary evidence showing a positive correlation between measures of negative body image and indices of both trait disgust and self-directed disgust. In two correlational studies among undergraduates (N = 577 and N = 346, respectively) we aimed at replicating and extending these findings by testing a series of critical relationships, which follow from our hypotheses that 1) trait disgust propensity would increase the risk of developing a negative body image by increasing the likelihood of feeling self-disgust, and 2) trait disgust sensitivity would heighten the impact of self-disgust on the development of persistent negative body appraisals. Replicating previous research, both studies showed that negative body image was positively related to self-disgust, disgust propensity and disgust sensitivity. Mediation analyses showed that, in line with our model, self-disgust partly accounted for the association between disgust propensity and negative body image. Although disgust sensitivity showed an independent relationship with body image, disgust sensitivity did not moderate the association between self-disgust and negative body image. All in all, findings are consistent with the view that self-disgust-induced avoidance may contribute to persistent negative body appraisals.

Implicit Measures of Actual Versus Ideal Body Image: Relations with Self-Reported Body Dissatisfaction and Dieting Behaviors

Body dissatisfaction refers to a negative appreciation of one’s own body stemming from a discrepancy between how one perceives his/her body (actual body image) and how he/she wants it to be (ideal body image). To circumvent the limitations of self-report measures of body image, measures were developed that allow for a distinction between actual and ideal body image at the implicit level. The first goal of the present study was to investigate whether self-reported body dissatisfaction is related to implicit measures of actual and ideal body image as captured by the Relational Responding Task (RRT). Secondly, we examined whether these RRT measures were related to several indices of dieting behavior. Women high in body dissatisfaction (n = 30) were characterized by relatively strong implicit I-am-fat beliefs, whereas their implicit I-want-to-be-thinner beliefs were similar to individuals low in body dissatisfaction (n = 37). Implicit body image beliefs showed no added value over explicit body image beliefs in predicting body dissatisfaction and dieting behavior. These findings support the idea that the interplay between ideal and actual body image drives (self-reported) body dissatisfaction. However, strong support for the view that it would be critical to differentiate between explicit and implicit body image beliefs is missing.