Neural correlates of emotion regulation deficits in remitted depression: The influence of regulation strategy, habitual regulation use, and emotional valence (original) (raw)

Neural mechanisms of cognitive reappraisal in remitted major depressive disorder

Journal of Affective Disorders, 2013

Background-Down-regulation of negative emotions by cognitive strategies relies on prefrontal cortical modulation of limbic brain regions, and impaired frontolimbic functioning during cognitive reappraisal has been observed in affective disorders. However, no study to date has examined cognitive reappraisal in unmedicated euthymic individuals with a history of major depressive disorder relative to symptom-matched controls. Given that a history of depression is a critical risk factor for future depressive episodes, investigating the neural mechanisms of emotion regulation in remitted major depressive disorder (rMDD) may yield novel insights into depression risk. Method-We assessed 37 individuals (18 rMDD, 19 controls) with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during a task requiring cognitive reappraisal of sad images. Results-Both groups demonstrated decreased self-reported negative affect after cognitive reappraisal and no group differences in the effects of cognitive reappraisal on mood were evident. Functional MRI results indicated greater paracingulate gyrus (rostral anterior cingulate cortex, Brodmann area 32) activation and decreased right midfrontal gyrus (Brodmann area 6) activation during the reappraisal of sad images. Limitations-Trial-by-trial ratings of pre-regulation affect were not collected, limiting the interpretation of post-regulation negative affect scores. Conclusions-Results suggest that activation of rostral anterior cingulate cortex, a region linked to the prediction of antidepressant treatment response, and of the right midfrontal gyrus, a region involved in cognitive control in the context of cognitive reappraisal, may represent

Longitudinal effects of cognitive behavioral therapy for depression on the neural correlates of emotion regulation

Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, 2018

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is effective for a substantial minority of patients suffering from major depressive disorder (MDD), but its mechanism of action at the neural level is not known. As core techniques of CBT seek to enhance emotion regulation, we scanned 31 MDD participants prior to 14 sessions of CBT using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and a task in which participants engaged in a voluntary emotion regulation strategy while recalling negative autobiographical memories. Eighteen healthy controls were also scanned. Twenty-three MDD participants completed post-treatment fMRI scanning, and 12 healthy volunteers completed repeat scanning without intervention. Better treatment outcome was associated with longitudinal *

Neural correlates of dysfunctional emotion regulation in major depressive disorder. A systematic review of neuroimaging studies

Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 2013

Abnormal emotion processing is a core feature of major depressive disorder (MDD). Since the emergence of functional neuroimaging techniques, many studies have been conducted in MDD subjects to elucidate the underlying abnormalities in the neural systems involved in emotion regulation. In this systematic review, we discuss this research in the context of the neural model of emotion regulation previously described by . This model differentiates between automatic and voluntary emotion regulation subprocesses. Automatic regulation subprocesses were shown to involve predominantly medial prefrontal cortical structures, in addition to the hippocampus and parahippocampus, while voluntary regulation processes additionally recruited lateral prefrontal cortical regions. In conclusion, although the available data is limited, findings suggest that MDD subjects demonstrate abnormally reduced activity in lateral prefrontal cortices during explicit voluntary control of emotional experience. During early, automatic stages of emotion regulation, on the other hand, MDD subjects appear to achieve successful emotion regulation by recruiting additional lateral prefrontal neural regions, that may be mediated by medial prefrontal, especially rostral/dorsal anterior cingulate gyrus (ACG) functioning. Dysfunctional automatic regulation may impair successful voluntary emotion regulation, and may present a target for novel therapeutic approaches in MDD.

Dysfunction in the neural circuitry of emotional self-regulation in major depressive disorder

NeuroReport, 2006

An inability to self-regulate negative emotions appears to play a pivotal role in the genesis of major depressive disorder. This inability may be related to a dysfunction of the neural circuitry underlying emotional self-regulation. This functional magnetic resonance imaging study was conducted to test this hypothesis. Depressed individuals and controls were scanned while they attempted to voluntarily down-regulate sad feelings. The degree of di⁄culty experienced during down-regulation of sadness was higher in depressed individuals. Furthermore, there was greater activation in the right dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, right anterior temporal pole, right amygdala, and right insula in depressed individuals. These results suggest that emotional dysregulation in major depressive disorder is related to a disturbance in the neural circuitry of emotional self-regulation. NeuroReport17:843^846

Transdiagnostic Alterations in Neural Emotion Regulation Circuits – Neural Substrates of Cognitive Reappraisal in Patients with Depression and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

2021

Background: Impaired cognitive reappraisal, associated with the social functioning and well-being of patients affected by mood or anxiety disorders, is characterized by distinct neural activation patterns across clinical populations. To date, studies dedicated to identifying common and distinct neural activation profiles need to be clarified. The aim of the present study was to investigate transdiagnostic differences and commonalities in brain activation patterns during reappraisal-mediated downregulation of emotions Methods: Cognitive reappraisal of negative images was contrasted with maintaining emotions during a control viewing condition. Brain activation in 35 patients with major depressive disorder (MDD), 20 patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and 34 healthy controls (HC) during cognitive reappraisal was compared. Moreover, the neural circuitry of emotion regulation in these clinical populations was examined using task-based and intrinsic functional connectivit...

Depression symptoms and cognitive control of emotion cues: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study

Neuroscience, 2010

Few studies have examined associations between depressive symptoms and alterations in neural systems that subserve cognitive control. Cognitive control was assessed with an exogenous cueing task using happy, sad, and neutral facial expressions as cues among women with mild to moderate symptoms of depression and a non-depressed control group while functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) measured brain activity. Amygdala and medial/orbital prefrontal cortex (PFC) response to valid emotion cues did not differ as a function of depression symptoms. However, significant depression group differences were observed when task demands required cognitive control. Participants with elevated depression symptoms showed weaker activation in right and left lateral PFC and parietal regions when shifting attentional focus away from invalid emotion cues. No depression group differences were observed for invalid non-emotional cues. Findings suggest that mild to moderate depression symptoms are asso...

Amygdala Reactivity and Mood-Congruent Memory in Individuals at Risk for Depressive Relapse

Biological Psychiatry, 2007

Background: According to cognitive diathesis-stress theories, a latent cognitive vulnerability to depression is activated by negative affect in individuals at risk for depressive relapse. This vulnerability can manifest as mood-congruent memory during sad mood and may involve amygdala response, which is implicated in memory for emotionally arousing stimuli. This study examined whether amygdala modulates memory for negatively valenced words before and after a sad mood induction in healthy individuals with and without a history of recurrent major depression. Methods: Fourteen unmedicated remitted depressed (RD) and 14 matched never depressed (ND) individuals were scanned using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while performing a self-referent encoding/evaluation task (SRET) preceding and following a sad mood challenge. After each SRET, participants' free recall was assessed. Results: Following sad mood induction, bilateral amygdala response during encoding of valenced words predicted increased recall of negative self-referent words for a subset of RD participants. This association was not present before the sad mood induction and was not evident in individuals without a history of depression, regardless of mood state. Conclusions: These results are consistent with cognitive diathesis-stress theories and suggest a role for the amygdala in modulating mood-congruent memory during transient sad mood in individuals who are vulnerable to depression relapse.

Neural and Cognitive Markers and Regulation of Emotion in Depression: A Mini-Review and a Short Case Report

Open Journal of Psychiatry, 2017

In the presented short clinical case of depression, the constructs of Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) of loss (negative valence systems) and cognitive control (cognitive systems) have been operationalized. It has been concluded that a normal cognitive control of emotion, requiring the functional and structural integrity of prefrontal cortex (PFC) and orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), is lacking in depression, but its amelioration can be achieved through the implementation of cognitive remediation/rehabilitation programs. A mini-review on neural and cognitive markers and regulation of emotion in depression is previously presented.

Emotion processing and regulation in major depressive disorder: A 7T resting-state fMRI study

2020

Dysfunctions in bottom-up emotion processing (EP), as well as top-down emotion regulation (ER) are prominent features in pathophysiology of major depressive disorder (MDD). Nonetheless, it is not clear whether EP-and ER-related areas are regionally and/or connectively disturbed in MDD. In addition, it is yet to be known how EP-and ER-related areas are interactively linked to regulatory behavior, and whether this interaction is disrupted in MDD. In our study, regional amplitude of low frequency fluctuations (ALFF) and whole-brain functional connectivity (FC) of meta-analytic-driven EP-and ER-related areas were compared between 32 healthy controls (HC) and 20 MDD patients. Then, we aimed to investigate whether the EP-related areas can predict the ER-related areas and regulatory behavior in both groups. Finally, the brain-behavior correlations between the EP-and ER-related areas and depression severity were assessed. We found that: (a) affective areas are regionally and/or connectively disturbed in MDD; (b) EP-ER interaction seems to be disrupted in MDD; overburden of emotional reactivity in amygdala may inversely affect cognitive control processes in prefrontal cortices, which leads to diminished regulatory actions. (c) Depression severity is correlated with FC of affective areas. Our findings shed new lights on the neural underpinning of affective dysfunctions in depression.