Cognitive Depressive Symptoms Research Articles

Depression as sickness behavior? A test of the host defense hypothesis in a high pathogen population.

Sadness is an emotion universally recognized across cultures, suggesting it plays an important functional role in regulating human behavior. Numerous adaptive explanations of persistent sadness interfering with daily functioning (hereafter "depression") have been proposed, but most do not explain frequent bidirectional associations between depression and greater immune activation. Here we test several predictions of the host defense hypothesis, which posits that depression is part of a broader coordinated evolved response to infection or tissue injury (i.e. "sickness behavior") that promotes energy conservation and reallocation to facilitate immune activation. In a high pathogen population of lean and relatively egalitarian Bolivian forager-horticulturalists, we test whether depression and its symptoms are associated with greater baseline concentration of immune biomarkers reliably associated with depression in Western populations (i.e. tumor necrosis factor alpha [TNF-α], interleukin-1 beta [IL-1β], interleukin-6 [IL-6], and C-reactive protein [CRP]). We also test whether greater pro-inflammatory cytokine responses to ex vivo antigen stimulation are associated with depression and its symptoms, which is expected if depression facilitates immune activation. These predictions are largely supported in a sample of older adult Tsimane (mean±SD age=53.2±11.0, range=34-85, n=649) after adjusting for potential confounders. Emotional, cognitive and somatic symptoms of depression are each associated with greater immune activation, both at baseline and in response to ex vivo stimulation. The association between depression and greater immune activation is therefore not unique to Western populations. While our findings are not predicted by other adaptive hypotheses of depression, they are not incompatible with those hypotheses and future research is necessary to isolate and test competing predictions.

Neuropsychological functioning among individuals infected with hepatitis C: a comparison of pre- and post-transplant performance

It is well established that patients with end stage liver disease (ESLD) experience cognitive and mood problems; however, little is known about changes in cognitive and emotional functioning following liver transplantation, especially over the past decade with the epidemic of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection taking over as the leading indication for liver transplantation. Seventeen patients with ESLD secondary to chronic HCV were assessed preand post-liver transplantation using a comprehensive neuropsychological battery. After an average of four years post-transplant, patients demonstrated significant improvements in most cognitive functioning and depressive symptoms. However, 18% of liver recipients continued to exhibit mild cognitive impairment mainly in areas of attention/executive functioning, motor speed, and learning. Liver * The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. Portions of these data were presented at the 61st annual meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Disease (AASLD). M. Sakamoto R.C. Hilsabeck M. Hammel F. Barakat T. Hassanein W. Perry Neuropsychological Trends – 17/2015 http://www.ledonline.it/neuropsychologicaltrends/ 68 transplantation is a life-extending surgery that reverses most, but not all, cognitive and mood difficulties. It is crucial to evaluate cognition after liver transplantation, especially in these three domains, and to consider the effect on daily functioning.

Neuromodulation and the mind-brain relation.

Many investigators now consider psychiatric disorders to be neural circuit disorders (Lozano and Lipsman, 2013). Cognitive, emotional and volitional symptoms of major depression, generalized anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder and other conditions are traceable to dysfunction in critical nodes of circuits in cortical, limbic and subcortical pathways of the brain. Guided by functional imaging, the ability of deep-brain stimulation (DBS) to probe and modulate specific circuits in real-time has elucidated the pathogenesis of these disorders. DBS has validated the neurobiological underpinning of normal and abnormal states of mind. This and other developments in clinical neuroscience discredit a dualist theory of mind and brain that takes psychological properties to be conceptually distinct from and capable of functioning independently of neural properties. Instead, they support a materialist theory of mind that explains mental phenomena in terms of their neural correlates.

Cross-cultural examination of measurement invariance of the Beck Depression Inventory-II.

Given substantial rates of major depressive disorder among college and university students, as well as the growing cultural diversity on many campuses, establishing the cross-cultural validity of relevant assessment tools is important. In the current investigation, we examined the Beck Depression Inventory-Second Edition (BDI-II; Beck, Steer, & Brown, 1996) among Chinese-heritage (n = 933) and European-heritage (n = 933) undergraduates in North America. The investigation integrated 3 distinct lines of inquiry: (a) the literature on cultural variation in depressive symptom reporting between people of Chinese and Western heritage; (b) recent developments regarding the factor structure of the BDI-II; and (c) the application of advanced statistical techniques to the issue of cross-cultural measurement invariance. A bifactor model was found to represent the optimal factor structure of the BDI-II. Multigroup confirmatory factor analysis showed that the BDI-II had strong measurement invariance across both culture and gender. In group comparisons with latent and observed variables, Chinese-heritage students scored higher than European-heritage students on cognitive symptoms of depression. This finding deviates from the commonly held view that those of Chinese heritage somatize depression. These findings hold implications for the study and use of the BDI-II, highlight the value of advanced statistical techniques such as multigroup confirmatory factor analysis, and offer methodological lessons for cross-cultural psychopathology research more broadly.

Examining Reciprocal Associations Between a Negative Cognitive Style and Depressive Symptoms in Early Adolescence

Depressive symptoms tend to increase in adolescence, and have been associated with the development of a negative cognitive style. Cognitive theories postulate that a negative cognitive style precedes the development of depressive symptoms while other theories suggest a negative cognitive style is a consequence. We examined the reciprocal relationship between a negative cognitive style and depressive symptoms over three measurements in a community sample of 720 adolescents (11–15 years; 52.8% male). Additionally, we examined the moderating effects of gender. An increased negative cognitive style predicted higher levels of depressive symptoms, but not vice versa. These patterns were found consistently and were not moderated by gender. The findings suggest that a pre-existing negative cognitive style influences the development of depressive symptoms, while a negative cognitive style develops independent of baseline levels of depressive symptoms. These effects do not differ between boys and girls. Theoretical...

Features of the Development Somatogenic Affective and Cognitive Disorders On Patients with Cardiovascular Diseases

The purpose of our research: to study features of the development somatogenic affective and cognitive disorders on patients with cardiovascular diseases. For conducting of the research there were involved 120 patients and there were formed 2 groups of supervision (60 patients with CI and 60 patients with CS). The patients were examined with: clinical, psycho-diagnostic (the MMSE, memory test, Gamylton scale of depression, Spylberger scale of anxiety, quality of life WHO-100), statistical methods. The results that we got showed: at patients with CI in acute period the painful syndrome was the main one, leads to severe psycho-emotional disturbances. At the background of preservation of cognitive function phobic, anxiety and depressive symptoms were prevailed, the severity of which depends on the severity of pain. Subsequently, the primary psycho-emotional component disappeared, anxiety-depressive disorders, hypo-and anozognostical type of perception of self condition were formed. At CS patients disorders of level of consciousness were primary with cognitive and asthenic disturbances with subsequent formation of psycho-emotional disorders, anxiety and depressive disorders with hypohondrical elements on the basis of persistent cognitive impairments. The multimodal principle based system of psychotherapeutical correction of nonpsychotic psychic disorders was developed. For CI patients, system includes personaly – oriented, rational, and autogenic-training therapy for CS patients – hypnosuggestive, cognitive – behavioral therapy, cognitive and autogenic-training therapy. The proposed system showed a significant improvement in 80 % of CI patients and 77 % of CS patients, a partial improvement – 10 % of CI patients and 13 % of CS patients.

Maternal attitudes, depression, and anxiety in pregnant and postpartum multiparous women.

The Attitudes Toward Motherhood (AToM) Scale was developed to assess women's beliefs about motherhood, a specific risk factor for emotional distress in perinatal populations. As the measure was initially developed and validated for use among first-time mothers, this study assessed the reliability and validity of the AToM Scale in a sample of multiparous women. Maternal attitudes were significantly associated with symptoms of depression, even after controlling for demographic, cognitive, and interpersonal risk factors. Maternal attitudes were also associated with symptoms of anxiety after controlling for demographic risk factors, but this association was not significant after accounting for cognitive and interpersonal risk factors. Compared to primiparous women from the initial validation study of the AToM Scale, multiparous women reported lower levels of social support and marital satisfaction. The relationships between cognitive and interpersonal risk factors and symptoms of depression and anxiety were comparable between multiparous and primiparous women.

Telepsychology for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A systematic review

Summary The effectiveness of psychological services provided remotely, telepsychology, for the management of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) was evaluated. Eleven studies (n = 472 participants) were identified from electronic database searches. Study quality was assessed, with studies characterised by small and underpowered samples. Effect sizes and associated confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated to determine the direction and magnitude of treatment change. Short-term treatment gains were reported for internet and video-based interventions. This included significant medium to large improvements (d range = 0.66–3.22) in cognitive and behavioural symptoms of depression, generalised anxiety and posttraumatic stress. However, the equivalence of telepsychology and face-to-face psychotherapy could not be determined, with few comparative studies available. Both treatment gains and deterioration were noted 1 to 6 months following treatment cessation, although this was based on limited follow-up data. Further larger scale and longitudinal research will help to ascertain the minimum requirements for the management and treatment of PTSD in a technology-supported environment.

The relative influence of patients’ self-reported depressive symptoms of cognitive deficit and cognitive bias on total depression in prostate cancer patients: implications for psychotherapy interventions

Perceptions of the depressive symptoms of cognitive deficit and cognitive bias were investigated in 492 prostate cancer (PCa) patients. Mean patient reports of the depressive symptoms of cognitive deficit were significantly higher than their reports of the depressive symptoms of cognitive bias, and more than six times as many patients had a high score for cognitive deficit as for cognitive bias depressive symptoms. Cognitive deficit symptomatology was a more powerful predictor of total depression score for the entire sample as well as for those patients with more severe depression. Assessment of PCa patients’ depressive status should include differentiation between these two types of depression-related cognitive difficulties so that appropriate psychotherapy treatment decisions might be made.

Depression trajectories, inflammation, and lifestyle factors in adolescence: The TRacking Adolescents' Individual Lives Survey.

In adults, depression and inflammation are bidirectionally related. This association is less clear in adolescents. Moreover, somatic and cognitive depressive symptoms might be differentially related to inflammation. Lifestyle factors, as in adults, may play an important mediating role in adolescents. For the current study we evaluated trajectories of depressive symptoms in adolescence over a 5-year course and their relation with subsequent high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) levels, and examined lifestyle factors as mediators. Participants of the TRacking Adolescents' Individual Lives' Survey (TRAILS; N = 1166) were followed from 2001 until 2008. Three biennial youth self-report (YSR) assessments of depressive symptoms were taken. Demographics, health, and lifestyle factors and levels of hsCRP were assessed at Wave 3. Latent-class analysis was used to determine trajectories of depression and general linear models to determine the association between depression trajectories and hsCRP. Finally, mediation analysis was performed to test mediation of lifestyle factors. Persistently moderate to high depressive symptoms were associated with higher hsCRP levels. Results were unaltered when we adjusted for demographics and health variables. Smoking mediated the association between depressive symptoms total score and hsCRP, in large part. Persistently higher scores on somatic and cognitive symptom subscales were associated with higher levels of hsCRP than persistently low scores. These results were rendered nonsignificant after covariate adjustment. Persistent depressive symptoms were associated with subsequent higher levels of hsCRP, with somatic and cognitive symptoms contributing equally. The association was mediated by smoking behavior. These findings suggest that reducing adolescent depression and smoking are important starting points in the prevention of inflammatory diseases.

Cognitive deficits in unipolar major depression

Cognitive deficits are common symptom presentations in neurology and psychiatry. Cognitive symptoms during major depressive episodes cause subjective distress as well as difficulties during therapy and psychosocial reintegration. Depression-associated cognitive symptoms are characterized by a mood-congruent information processing bias as well as by cognitive performance deficits. A diagnostically relevant profile of neuropsychological impairments specific to depression has not yet been identified. Nevertheless, deficits of executive and declarative memory functions have repeatedly been reported. The time course of cognitive deficits after remission of mood is not entirely clear. Depending on the point of time of the reinvestigation, patients may still exhibit pronounced cognitive deficits. This article presents the current knowledge about cognitive symptoms in major depression, including the pathophysiology and treatment options.

Antidepressant drugs specifically inhibiting noradrenaline reuptake enhance recognition memory in rats.

Patients suffering from major depression often experience memory deficits even after the remission of mood symptoms, and many antidepressant drugs do not affect, or impair, memory in animals and humans. However, some antidepressant drugs, after a single dose, enhance cognition in humans (Harmer et al., 2009). To compare different classes of antidepressant drugs for their potential as memory enhancers, we used a version of the novel object recognition task in which rats spontaneously forget objects 24 hr after their presentation. Antidepressant drugs were injected systemically 30 min before or directly after the training phase (Session 1 [S1]). Post-S1 injections were used to test for specific memory-consolidation effects. The noradrenaline reuptake inhibitors reboxetine and atomoxetine, as well as the serotonin noradrenaline reuptake inhibitor duloxetine, injected prior to S1 significantly enhanced recognition memory. In contrast, the serotonin reuptake inhibitors citalopram and paroxetine and the cyclic antidepressant drugs desipramine and mianserin did not enhance recognition memory. Post-S1 injection of either reboxetine or citalopram significantly enhanced recognition memory, indicating an effect on memory consolidation. The fact that citalopram had an effect only when injected after S1 suggests that it may counteract its own consolidation-enhancing effect by interfering with memory acquisition. However, pretreatment with citalopram did not attenuate reboxetine's memory-enhancing effect. The D1/5-receptor antagonist SCH23390 blunted reboxetine's memory-enhancing effect, indicating a role of dopaminergic transmission in reboxetine-induced recognition memory enhancement. Our results suggest that antidepressant drugs specifically inhibiting noradrenaline reuptake enhance cognition and may be beneficial in the treatment of cognitive symptoms of depression.

Executive Dysfunction and Functional Impairment Associated With Sluggish Cognitive Tempo in Emerging Adulthood

Objective: Research has identified a relationship between sluggish cognitive tempo (SCT) symptoms and symptoms of ADHD, anxiety, and depression; however, no study has controlled for symptoms of ADHD, anxiety, and depression when examining impairment related to SCT symptoms. This study aimed to examine (a) the extent to which functional impairment and executive function (EF) problems were accounted for by SCT symptoms when controlling for ADHD, anxiety, and depression symptoms, and (b) which type of symptoms were associated with the greatest amount of impairment. Method: College students (N = 458) completed self-report scales of ADHD, SCT, anxiety, and depression symptoms, as well as functional impairment and EF problems. Results: Thirteen percent of the sample was found to have high levels of SCT symptoms. SCT symptoms showed a moderate to strong correlation with the other symptom sets; however, high levels of SCT symptoms often occurred separate from high levels of ADHD, anxiety, or depression symptoms. SCT symptoms accounted for the most unique variance for both EF problems and functional impairment. Students with high levels of SCT symptoms, with or without high levels of ADHD symptoms, exhibited more impairment and EF problems than the controls. Conclusion: SCT is a clinical construct worthy of additional study, particularly among college students.

Variability in Depressive Symptoms of Cognitive Deficit and Cognitive Bias During the First 2 Years After Diagnosis in Australian Men With Prostate Cancer.

The incidence and contribution to total depression of the depressive symptoms of cognitive deficit and cognitive bias in prostate cancer (PCa) patients were compared from cohorts sampled during the first 2 years after diagnosis. Survey data were collected from 394 patients with PCa, including background information, treatments, and disease status, plus total scores of depression and scores for subscales of the depressive symptoms of cognitive bias and cognitive deficit via the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale. The sample was divided into eight 3-monthly time-since-diagnosis cohorts and according to depression severity. Mean scores for the depressive symptoms of cognitive deficit were significantly higher than those for cognitive bias for the whole sample, but the contribution of cognitive bias to total depression was stronger than that for cognitive deficit. When divided according to overall depression severity, patients with clinically significant depression showed reversed patterns of association between the two subsets of cognitive symptoms of depression and total depression compared with those patients who reported less severe depression. Differences in the incidence and contribution of these two different aspects of the cognitive symptoms of depression for patients with more severe depression argue for consideration of them when assessing and diagnosing depression in patients with PCa. Treatment requirements are also different between the two types of cognitive symptoms of depression, and several suggestions for matching treatment to illness via a personalized medicine approach are discussed.

Interpersonal problems, dependency, and self-criticism in major depressive disorder.

The goal of the present research was the examination of overlap between 2 research traditions on interpersonal personality traits in major depression. We hypothesized that Blatt's (2004) dimensions of depressive experiences around the dimensions of relatedness (i.e., dependency) and self-definition (i.e., self-criticism) are associated with specific interpersonal problems according to the interpersonal circumplex model (Leary, 1957). In addition, we examined correlations of interpersonal characteristics with depression severity. Analyses were conducted on 283 patients with major depressive disorder combined from 2 samples. Of the patients, 151 participated in a randomized controlled trial in the United States, and 132 patients were recruited in an inpatient unit in Germany. Patients completed measures of symptomatic distress, interpersonal problems, and depressive experiences. Dependency was associated with more interpersonal problems related to low dominance and high affiliation, while self-criticism was associated with more interpersonal problems related to low affiliation. These associations were independent of depression severity. Self-criticism showed high overlap with cognitive symptoms of depression. The findings support the interpersonal nature of Blatt's dimensions of depressive experiences. Self-criticism is associated with being too distant or cold toward others as well as greater depression severity, but is not related to the dimension of dominance.

P328: Association of cognitive impairment, depressive symptoms and sarcopenia among healthy older men in the veterans retirement community in southern Taiwan: a cross-sectional study

P328: Association of cognitive impairment, depressive symptoms and sarcopenia among healthy older men in the veterans retirement community in southern Taiwan: a cross-sectional study

C-27 * Depression Symptom Impact on Executive Functioning and Processing Speed in Middle Aged and Older Adults

Objective: Although some research suggests depression affects executive functioning (EF) and processing speed (PS), few studies have considered which specific depression symptoms are influential or have accounted for the effects of white matter ischemia (WMI). The objective of this study was to determine which depression symptoms have the greatest impact on EF and PS in middle-aged and older adults after accounting for WMI. Method: Subjects were 85 patients (gender: 36.5% male; mean/SD: age = 54.41/7.99; education = 14.35/2.82) referred to a neurology/neuropsychology clinic for neuropsychological evaluation and had magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Twenty-five had clinically significant elevation on the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) Depression scale (> 70T). Thirty-nine had WMI findings on MRI. Dependent variables for a series of hierarchical regression analyses included the PAI Depression – Cognitive, Affective, and Physiological subscales. Independent variables were measures of: EF - Digit Span Backwards and Matrix Reasoning of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale – 3rd and 4th editions; Delis Kaplan Executive Functioning Scale and Trail Making Test Switching, FAS and Animal Naming; and Wechsler Memory Scale – 3rd edition Spatial Span Backwards; and PS - Trail Making Test Letter. WMI and current use of antidepressants were covariates. Results: After accounting for WMI and antidepressant use, no PAI depression subscales were significant predictors of EF and PS performance. Conclusion(s): Cognitive, affective, and physiological symptoms of depression as measured by the PAI were not associated with performance on measures of EF and PS after controlling for WMI and antidepressant use.

A-47 * The Association of Stroke Symptoms with Cognitive Function and Depressive Symptoms in Older Adults with Diabetes

A-47 * The Association of Stroke Symptoms with Cognitive Function and Depressive Symptoms in Older Adults with Diabetes

Associations between depression and diabetes in the community: do symptom dimensions matter? Results from the Gutenberg Health Study.

ObjectivesWhile a bidirectional relationship between diabetes and depression has been established, there is little knowledge if the associations are due to somatic-affective or cognitive-affective dimensions of depression.Research Design and MethodsIn a population-based, representative survey of 15.010 participants we therefore studied the associations of the two dimensions of depression with diabetes and health care utilization among depressed and diabetic participants. Depression was assessed by the Patient Health Questionnaire PHQ-9.ResultsWe found a linear and consistent association between the intensity of depression and the presence of diabetes increasing from 6.9% in no or minimal depression to 7.6% in mild, 9% in moderate and 10.5% in severe depression. There was a strong positive association between somatic-affective symptoms but not with cognitive-affective symptoms and diabetes. Depression and diabetes were both independently related to somatic health care utilisation.ConclusionsDiabetes and depression are associated, and the association is primarily driven by the somatic-affective component of depression. The main limitation of our study pertains to the cross-sectional data acquisition. Further longitudinal work on the relationship of obesity and diabetes should differentiate the somatic and the cognitive symptoms of depression.

Depressive symptoms are associated with mental stress-induced myocardial ischemia after acute myocardial infarction.

ObjectivesDepression is an adverse prognostic factor after an acute myocardial infarction (MI), and an increased propensity toward emotionally-driven myocardial ischemia may play a role. We aimed to examine the association between depressive symptoms and mental stress-induced myocardial ischemia in young survivors of an MI.MethodsWe studied 98 patients (49 women and 49 men) age 38–60 years who were hospitalized for acute MI in the previous 6 months. Patients underwent myocardial perfusion imaging at rest, after mental stress (speech task), and after exercise or pharmacological stress. A summed difference score (SDS), obtained with observer-independent software, was used to quantify myocardial ischemia under both stress conditions. The Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) was used to measure depressive symptoms, which were analyzed as overall score, and as separate somatic and cognitive depressive symptom scores.ResultsThere was a significant positive association between depressive symptoms and SDS with mental stress, denoting more ischemia. After adjustment for demographic and lifestyle factors, disease severity and medications, each incremental depressive symptom was associated with 0.14 points higher SDS. When somatic and cognitive depressive symptoms were examined separately, both somatic [β = 0.17, 95% CI: (0.04, 0.30), p = 0.01] and cognitive symptoms [β = 0.31, 95% CI: (0.07, 0.56), p = 0.01] were significantly associated with mental stress-induced ischemia. Depressive symptoms were not associated with ischemia induced by exercise or pharmacological stress.ConclusionAmong young post-MI patients, higher levels of both cognitive and somatic depressive symptoms are associated with a higher propensity to develop myocardial ischemia with mental stress, but not with physical (exercise or pharmacological) stress.