Associations between childhood maltreatment and adult depression: a mediation analysis.

BACKGROUND: There is ample evidence showing that childhood maltreatment (CM) is a risk factor for the development of depression in adulthood. However, little is known about the psychological processes mediating this relationship. This study used a large community sample to investigate the mediating role of emotional, cognitive and/or interpersonal dysfunctions on the one hand and posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms on the other hand. METHODS: One thousand twenty seven participants of a community sample filled out an online survey. Mediation analyses were computed via linear structural equation modelling. RESULTS: Results showed a significant mediation of the association between CM and adult depression via emotional impairments, depressogenic attribution style and symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder. Our study design was cross-sectional and therefore did not allow testing temporal precedence of mediators and causality. Data was collected retrospectively, a confounding effect of current depressive symptoms on retrospective recall of CM therefore cannot be ruled out. CONCLUSIONS: The a priori mediation model showed a good fit with the data. The model suggests promising objectives for further research on CM-related depression and potential treatment targets in the future.

Childhood maltreatment and characteristics of adult depression: meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Childhood maltreatment has been discussed as a risk factor for the development and maintenance of depression. AIMS: To examine the relationship between childhood maltreatment and adult depression with regard to depression incidence, severity, age at onset, course of illness and treatment response. METHOD: We conducted meta-analyses of original articles reporting an association between childhood maltreatment and depression outcomes in adult populations. RESULTS: In total, 184 studies met inclusion criteria. Nearly half of patients with depression reported a history of childhood maltreatment. Maltreated individuals were 2.66 (95% CI 2.38-2.98) to 3.73 (95% CI 2.88-4.83) times more likely to develop depression in adulthood, had an earlier depression onset and were twice as likely to develop chronic or treatment-resistant depression. Depression severity was most prominently linked to childhood emotional maltreatment. CONCLUSIONS: Childhood maltreatment, especially emotional abuse and neglect, represents a risk factor for severe, early-onset, treatment-resistant depression with a chronic course.

Taking a walk through time: aversive memory re-experiencing may be linked to spatio-temporal distance.

Background: Individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) often report intrusive memories that appear to lack the appropriate spatio-temporal context. Objective: We examined whether focusing on the spatio-temporal context of aversive autobiographical memories reduces negative emotions, appraisals, and re-experiencing symptoms. Methods: We recruited 109 healthy adults and had them rate emotionality, vividness, and re-experiencing of an aversive autobiographical memory. Furthermore, we assessed automatic associations of idiosyncratic memory triggers with the concepts 'past' vs. 'now', and self-reported sense of memory closure and distancing. To manipulate spatio-temporal memory (re-)organization, the experimental group (n = 53) performed a lifeline exercise in virtual reality (VR), where participants symbolically placed memory triggers along a path representing their own personal life story. The control group (n = 56) completed a non-personalized VR task. Results: We found a marked decrease in negative emotions, negative appraisals, and re-experiencing in the following week, but on average, the lifeline exercise was not superior to the control condition. However, those in the lifeline group with stronger trigger-past associations subsequently exhibited a more pronounced reduction in re-experiencing. Also, participants with a higher subjective sense of memory distancing reported less re-experiencing. Conclusions: The findings lend tentative support for theoretical assumptions about PTSD, but the potential causal role of automatic associations with spatio-temporal information remains to be clarified.

Antecedentes: Las personas con trastorno de estrés postraumático (TEPT) con frecuencia informan recuerdos intrusivos que parecen carecer del contexto espacio-temporal adecuado.Objetivo: Examinamos si centrarse en el contexto espacio-temporal de los recuerdos autobiográficos aversivos reduce las emociones negativas, las valoraciones, y los síntomas de re-experimentación.Métodos: Reclutamos 109 adultos sanos y les pedimos que calificaran la emocionalidad, vivacidad y re-experimentación de un recuerdo autobiográfico aversivo. Además, evaluamos las asociaciones automáticas de los desencadenantes de la memoria idiosincrática con los conceptos de 'pasado' vs 'ahora' y la sensación auto-reportada de la cercanía o lejanía del recuerdo. Para manipular la (re-)organización de la memoria espacio-temporal, el grupo experimental (n = 53) realizo un ejercicio de Línea de Vida en realidad virtual (RV), donde los participantes simbólicamente pusieron los gatilladores del recuerdo a lo largo de un sendero que representaba sus propias historias de vida personales. El grupo control (n = 56) completo una tarea de RV no personalizada.Resultados: Encontramos una disminución marcada de las emociones negativas, valoraciones negativas y re-experimentación en la semana siguiente, pero en promedio, el ejercicio de la Línea de Vida no fue superior a la condición de control. Sin embargo, aquellos del grupo de la Línea de Vida con asociaciones más fuertes de los gatilladores del pasado exhibieron subsecuentemente una disminución más pronunciada en la re-experimentación. Tambien, los participantes con un sentido de la memoria de distanciamiento subjetivamente más alta informaron menor re-experimentación.Conclusiones: Los hallazgos brindan un apoyo tentativo a las suposiciones teóricas acerca del TEPT, pero el posible papel causal de las asociaciones automáticas con la información espacio-temporal aún no se ha aclarado.

Everyday emotional dynamics in major depression.

The present study aimed to investigate the everyday emotional dynamics of depressed individuals, especially the role of emotional inertia, emotional context insensitivity, and emotional variability and instability. Using ecological momentary assessment, 40 currently depressed individuals and 40 healthy controls reported on their current emotional state and current activities 10 times a day for 4 consecutive days. There were no differences in the dynamics of positive affect (PA) between depressed and healthy subjects. Depressed participants' negative affect (NA), however, was found to be more inert than in healthy controls, while at the same time being more variable and more reactive to positive events. There was also an association between emotional instability and depression, but this was rendered nonsignificant when analyses were controlled for emotional variability. Altogether, emotional dynamics of NA appear to be more prominently disturbed in depression compared to PA. Results support earlier findings on NA emotional variability as well as inertia in depressed patients. In addition, there was some evidence for a mood brightening effect in depression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).