Johnathan Rottenberg

Cardiac vagal control in depression: A critical analysis

Rapidly developing research has found abnormal cardiac vagal control (CVC) in several physical and mental health conditions. CVC findings in depression are mixed, and the degree to which CVC is compromised in depression is unclear. A meta-analysis of 13 rigorous cross-sectional studies reveals that a diagnosis of depression exerts a small-to-medium effect size on CVC, and explains only about 2% of the overall variance in CVC. More robust data may emerge from alternative approaches to the depression-CVC relationship, such as the use of CVC to predict the course of the disorder. Despite the vigor of recent work on CVC and depression, overall findings are suggestive rather than conclusive. Methodological desiderata and priorities for future research are discussed, including the need to clarify the etiological significance of CVC.

Mood and Emotion in Major Depression

Nothing is more familiar to people than their moods and emotions. Oddly, however, it is not clear how these two kinds of affective processes are related. Intuitively, it makes sense that emotional reactions are stronger when they are congruent with a preexisting mood, an idea reinforced by contemporary emotion theory. Yet empirically, it is uncertain whether moods actually facilitate emotional reactivity to mood-congruent stimuli. One approach to the question of how moods affect emotions is to study mood-disturbed individuals. This review describes recent experimental studies of emotional reactivity conducted with individuals suffering from major depression. Counter to intuitions, major depression is associated with reduced emotional reactivity to sad contexts. A novel account of emotions in depression is advanced to assimilate these findings. Implications for the study of depression and normal mood variation are considered.

Is there a relationship between depression and crying? A review

Objective:  To conduct a systematic examination of the relationship between depression and crying by reviewing all relevant theory and empirical data including the performance of crying items in measures of depression.

Emotion-modulated startle in anxiety disorders is blunted by co-morbid depressive episodes.

BACKGROUND While anxiety has been associated with exaggerated emotional reactivity, depression has been associated with blunted, or context insensitive, emotional responding. Although anxiety and depressive disorders are frequently co-morbid, surprisingly little is known about emotional reactivity when the two disorders co-occur. METHOD We utilized the emotion-modulated startle (EMS) paradigm to examine the effects of a concurrent depressive episode on emotional reactivity in young adults with anxiety disorders. Using an archival dataset from a multi-disciplinary project on risk factors in childhood-onset depression, we examined eye-blink startle reactions to late-onset auditory startle probes while participants viewed pictures with affectively pleasant, unpleasant and neutral content. EMS response patterns were analyzed in 33 individuals with a current anxiety (but no depressive) disorder, 24 individuals with a current anxiety disorder and co-morbid depressive episode and 96 healthy controls. RESULTS Control participants and those with a current anxiety disorder (but no depression) displayed normative linearity in startle responses, including potentiation by unpleasant pictures. By contrast, individuals with concurrent anxiety and depression displayed blunted EMS. CONCLUSIONS An anxiety disorder concurrent with a depressive episode is associated with reactivity that more closely resembles the pattern of emotional responding that is typical of depression (i.e. context insensitive) rather than the pattern that is typical for anxiety (i.e. exaggerated).

Uncovering the dynamics of emotion regulation and dysfunction in daily life with ecological momentary assessment

The Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) method permits researchers to overcome some of the limitations of typical self-report methods and enable study of the dynamics of experiences and behaviors as they occur over time and across settings in daily life. Since Myin-Germeys and colleagues (Psychological Medicine:1533–1547, 2009) recently published an excellent general overview of EMA applications in psychopathology research, this chapter focuses specifically on EMA applications for understandingemotion in psychopathology. We briefly survey EMA methods developed over the past 30 years. Next, we explain the utility of using EMA to study emotional functioning, highlighting selected areas in emotion research where the potential of EMA modalities for clinical description, assessment, and clinical interventions are beginning to be realized. Our discussion of applications draws upon our own work with mood and anxiety disorders. Finally, we discuss the promise of EMA for improving the assessment and treatment of emotional disorders, as well as highlighting several priority areas for future investigation.