Victim Sensitivity and Its Neural Correlates Among Patients With Major Depressive Disorder.

Xiaoming Wang,Qinglin Gao,Yuan Zhou,Shaojuan Cui,Yun Wang,Michael Shengtao Wu

doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00622

Abstract

BackgroundDysfunctional beliefs about the self are common in the development of depressive symptoms, but it remains unclear how depressed patients respond to unfair treatment, both dispositionally and neurally. The present research is an attempt to explore the differences in sensitivity to injustice as a victim and its neural correlates in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) versus healthy controls.MethodsFirst episodic, drug-naïve patients with MDD (n = 30) and a control group (n = 30) were recruited to compare their differences in victim sensitivity. A second group of patients with MDD (n = 23) and their controls (n = 28) were recruited to replicate the findings and completed resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanning. Spontaneous brain activity measured by fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (fALFF) was used to characterize the neural correlates of victim sensitivity both in patients and in healthy controls.ResultsHigher victim sensitivity was consistently found in patients with MDD than healthy controls in both datasets. Multiple regression analysis on the fALFF showed a significant interaction effect between diagnosis and victim sensitivity in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC).ConclusionsThe patients with MDD show higher sensitivity to injustice as a victim, which may be independent of their disease course. The MDD patients differ from healthy controls in the neural correlates of victim sensitivity. These findings shed light on the linkage between cognitive control subserved by the DLPFC and negative bias towards the self implicated by higher victim sensitivity among the depressed patients.

Highlights

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is one of the most common mental disorders, with a high prevalence in current times [1,2,3]
All of these findings suggested that the correlation between victim sensitivity and the severity of depressive symptoms may not be reliable
Using fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (fALFF) as a search tool, we found a contrary pattern regarding the association between the spontaneous activity in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and victim sensitivity among the MDD patients versus healthy controls

Summary

Introduction

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is one of the most common mental disorders, with a high prevalence in current times [1,2,3]. Recent research suggests that hypervigilance towards one’s negative experience is linked with the development of MDD [5], and sensitivity to injustice as a victim is related to the stabilization of depressive symptoms [6]. Victim-sensitive individuals tend to detect injustice within a low threshold. They are likely to experience stronger anger, moral outrage, and exhibit uncooperative behavioral tendencies [7, 8]. Dysfunctional beliefs about the self are common in the development of depressive symptoms, but it remains unclear how depressed patients respond to unfair treatment, both dispositionally and neurally. The present research is an attempt to explore the differences in sensitivity to injustice as a victim and its neural correlates in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) versus healthy controls

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion