Hao Chai

Mismatch negativity in treatment-resistant depression and borderline personality disorder.

OBJECTIVE Cognitive dysfunctions, such as attentional impairment, are central features of both treatment-resistant depression (TRD) and borderline personality disorder (BPD). The treatment failure of TRD due to its comorbidity with BPD is debated in the literature. The mismatch negativity (MMN) of the event-related potentials provides an objective marker of involuntary stimulus selective processing, which might help shed light on this issue and provide an avenue for investigating a possible endophenotypic marker for TRD. METHOD We investigated MMN in 22 patients with TRD, 19 with BPD, and 22 with TRD cormorbid with BPD (TRD+BPD), as well as in 32 healthy volunteers, by employing an acoustic frequency deviance paradigm. In addition, we measured the depressive mood using the Plutchik-van Praag (PVP) depression inventory. RESULTS There was no significant between-group difference for the N1 latencies/amplitudes, both to the standard and deviant stimuli, and no significant between-group difference for MMN latencies. However, MMN amplitudes were higher in the TRD group than those in the other three groups. PVP scores were highest in TRD+BPD, then TRD, BPD patients, and lowest in healthy subjects. The higher MMN was not correlated with PVP score, nor with the duration of life-long depression, which can be considered as a neurophysiological marker for TRD. CONCLUSION An atypical lack of inhibition on the irrelevant stimuli or increased cortical neuronal activity, especially frontal area, or both, might be responsible for the finding.

Recognition of facial emotion and perceived parental bonding styles in healthy volunteers and personality disorder patients

Aims:  Early parental bonding experiences play a role in emotion recognition and expression in later adulthood, and patients with personality disorder frequently experience inappropriate parental bonding styles, therefore the aim of the present study was to explore whether parental bonding style is correlated with recognition of facial emotion in personality disorder patients.

Further evidence for the fifth higher trait of personality pathology: A correlation study using normal and disordered personality measures

Studies between disordered personality and the Big-Five or the Alternative Five-Factor model of normal personality have consistently shown four higher traits. The fifth higher trait, relating to Openness to Experience or Impulsive Sensation Seeking was less supported. The culture-free Nonverbal Personality Questionnaire (NPQ) might help us to characterise the fifth higher trait. We therefore tried the Dimensional Assessment of Personality Pathology (DAPP), the NEO-Personality Inventory-Revised (NEO-PI-R), the Zuckerman-Kuhlman Personality Questionnaire (ZKPQ) and the NPQ in 253 healthy participants. Our results yielded five factors, four of which resembled the previous ones. The fifth one, namely Peculiarity Seeking, was defined by NPQ and NEO-PI-R Openness to Experience, ZKPQ Impulsive Sensation Seeking and DAPP Stimulus Seeking. Whether the fifth factor is linked to the schizotypal personality disorder as proposed remains unanswered.

Facial emotion triggered cerebral potentials in treatment-resistant depression and borderline personality disorder patients of both genders.

BACKGROUND Processing facial expressions of emotion is deteriorated in depression, which might be more pronounced in treatment-resistant depression (TRD), especially when the latter is comorbid with borderline personality disorder (BPD). Neurophysiologically, both early perceptual and late cognitive cerebral processes of facial emotions can be illustrated by event-related potentials (ERPs). METHODS We therefore tried the ERPs to facial expressions of Neutral, Anger, Happiness, and Sadness in 25 patients with TRD, 15 with BPD, 22 with their comorbidity (TRD+BPD), as well as in 37 healthy volunteers. The depression levels of participants were measured with the Plutchik-van Praag Depressive Inventory (PVP). RESULTS There was no group difference regarding either N1 (N170), P2, N2, P3a or P3b latency or amplitude to the four facial emotions. Reaction times (RTs) to Anger (p<.01), Happiness (p<.01), and Sadness (p<.001) in TRD, and those to Anger (p<.01) and Happiness (p<.01) in TRD+BPD patients were longer than those in the healthy volunteers. RTs to the four facial expressions were positively correlated (p<.01) with their depressive moods in all participants. In addition, PVP was positively correlated with the P2 latency to Anger in TRD+BPD patients (Fz, p<.01; Cz, p<.01; Pz, p<.01). CONCLUSIONS BPD contributed little to TRD or TRD+BPD regarding cerebral processing of facial emotions, however, other cognitive and behavioral data suggest a generalized impairment when responding to facial emotions in TRD and TRD+BPD patients, and a deteriorated perceptual processing of Anger in TRD+BPD patients.

Personality correlates of reporting Chinese words from the Deutsch ＂high-low＂ word illusion by Chinese-speaking people

ObjectiveWhen English-speaking people listen to the Deutsch “high-low” word illusion, they report hearing English words. Whether Chinese-speaking people report Chinese words when listening to the illusion, or whether any reported words might be correlated with personality traits as previous investigations have demonstrated for listening to music in other cultures, is open to question. The present study aimed to address this.MethodsA total of 308 right-handed, healthy volunteers (177 women and 131 men) were given the illusion test and asked to answer the Zuckerman-Kuhlman personality questionnaire (ZKPQ). Their depressive tendency was measured by the Plutchik-van Praag depression inventory (PVP).ResultsThere was no gender effect regarding either the PVP score or the number of reported Chinese words from the illusion. Women scored higher on ZKPQ neuroticism-anxiety than men. The number of meaningful Chinese words reported was correlated with the ZKPQ impulsive sensation-seeking, aggression-hostility, and activity scores. Some words reported by participants who scored higher on these three traits were related in meaning to those scales.ConclusionOur preliminary results suggest that when Chinese-speaking people listen to the Deutsch “high-low” word illusion, they might use personality-related, specific cognitive schemata.

Development of a Functional and Emotional Measure of Dysmenorrhea (FEMD) in Chinese University Women

Primary dysmenorrhea, or cramps, causes pain, limits activity, and increases emotional tension in young women, but its measurement has not received enough research attention. We have developed a functional and emotional measure of dysmenorrhea (FEMD, 14 items), and trialed it with a sample of 833 Chinese university women. Two factors (scales) were extracted by principal component analysis (PCA) and subsequently approved by a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The two scales were intercorrelated and were correlated with experienced pain severity and, to a lesser degree, with the depressive tendency. We have demonstrated that FEMD has stable components that might help measure dysmenorrhea-related dysfunctions.

Personality Characteristics of Male Sufferers of Chronic Tension-Type and Cervicogenic Headache

Background and Purpose Chronic tension-type headache (a primary headache disorder) and cervicogenic headache (a secondary headache disorder that is attributable to upper cervical spine pathology) share similar clinical manifestations, but their associated personality traits may differ. We evaluated the personality differences between sufferers of chronic tension-type headache and cervicogenic headache. Methods We administered the Zuckerman-Kuhlman Personality Questionnaire (ZKPQ) and the Zuckerman Sensation-Seeking Scale (SSS) to 18 patients suffering from chronic tension-type headache, 19 suffering from cervicogenic headache, and 26 healthy volunteers. Depressive trends were measured with the Plutchik-van-Praag Depression Inventory (PVP). Results Compared to healthy controls, the chronic tension-type headache group scored significantly higher on ZKPQ Neuroticism-Anxiety and on the PVP, while the cervicogenic headache group scored significantly lower on SSS Thrill and Adventure Seeking. In addition, the total SSS score was significantly lower in the cervicogenic headache group than in both the chronic tension-type headache group and the healthy controls. Conclusions The results of this study indicate that higher scores for neuroticism-anxiety and depression were associated with chronic tension-type headache, while lower sensation-seeking scores were associated with cervicogenic headache.

Processing Environmental Stimuli in Paranoid Schizophrenia： Recognizing Facial Emotions and Performing Executive Functions

OBJECTIVE To study the contribution of executive function to abnormal recognition of facial expressions of emotion in schizophrenia patients. METHODS Abnormal recognition of facial expressions of emotion was assayed according to Japanese and Caucasian facial expressions of emotion (JACFEE), Wisconsin card sorting test (WCST), positive and negative symptom scale, and Hamilton anxiety and depression scale, respectively, in 88 paranoid schizophrenia patients and 75 healthy volunteers. RESULTS Patients scored higher on the Positive and Negative Symptom Scale and the Hamilton Anxiety and Depression Scales, displayed lower JACFEE recognition accuracies and poorer WCST performances. The JACFEE recognition accuracy of contempt and disgust was negatively correlated with the negative symptom scale score while the recognition accuracy of fear was positively with the positive symptom scale score and the recognition accuracy of surprise was negatively with the general psychopathology score in patients. Moreover, the WCST could predict the JACFEE recognition accuracy of contempt, disgust, and sadness in patients, and the perseverative errors negatively predicted the recognition accuracy of sadness in healthy volunteers. The JACFEE recognition accuracy of sadness could predict the WCST categories in paranoid schizophrenia patients. CONCLUSION Recognition accuracy of social-/moral emotions, such as contempt, disgust and sadness is related to the executive function in paranoid schizophrenia patients, especially when regarding sadness.

Passive event-related potentials to a single tone in treatment-resistant depression, generalized anxiety disorder, and borderline personality disorder patients.

Purpose: Treatment-resistant depression is comorbid with personality or anxiety disorder; how passive attention functions in these disorders remains unknown. A single tone–elicited event-related potential P3 component (passive P3) might help to characterize the passive attention in these disorders. Methods: The passive P3 test was applied to 32 patients with treatment-resistant depression, 35 with generalized anxiety disorder, and 21 with borderline personality disorder, as well as to 31 healthy volunteers. The Zung Self-rating Depression and Anxiety Scales were used to measure the respective depression and anxiety levels in these participants. Results: All patients scored significantly higher on depression and anxiety than the healthy participants did. P3 amplitude was significantly reduced in groups with treatment-resistant depression and generalized anxiety disorder but not in the group with borderline personality disorder or healthy controls. Anxiety level was negatively correlated with P3 amplitude in healthy controls rather than in other groups. Conclusions: This study did not discriminate treatment-resistant depression and generalized anxiety disorder regarding the passive P3 but suggested that there was a generalized impairment of passive attention in these disorders.

Intensity Dependence of Auditory Evoked Potentials in Primary Dysmenorrhea

Some studies suggest that women with primary dysmenorrhea have distinct emotional or personality features. For example, they might exaggerate their responses to external stimuli, such as to intensity-increasing auditory stimuli. Fifteen women with primary dysmenorrhea and 15 healthy women were invited to undergo tests of the intensity dependence of auditory evoked potentials (IDAEP), the Functional and Emotional Measure of Dysmenorrhea, and the Plutchik-van Praag Depression Inventory. Study participants with dysmenorrhea showed higher Functional and Emotional scale scores and stronger IDAEP. Regarding the IDAEP generation, the source inversion of N1 and P2 disclosed the activated bilateral superior temporal gyri, medial and superior prefrontal gyri in all participants, and additionally, the middle frontal gyri in dysmenorrhea patients. We report a pronounced IDAEP in primary dysmenorrhea, which indicates the decreased cerebral serotonergic innervations and points to increased activations in the prefrontal and frontal areas in the disorder. PERSPECTIVE Using an IDAEP technique, the authors found decreased serotonergic innervation and altered cerebral activation in women with primary dysmenorrhea, which might offer some pharmacotherapeutic clues for the disorder.