Brain activity during reappraisal and associations with psychotherapy response in social anxiety and major depression: a randomized trial.

BACKGROUND: Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is an effective treatment for patients with social anxiety disorder (SAD) or major depressive disorder (MDD), yet there is variability in clinical improvement. Though prior research suggests pre-treatment engagement of brain regions supporting cognitive reappraisal (e.g. dorsolateral prefrontal cortex [dlPFC]) foretells CBT response in SAD, it remains unknown if this extends to MDD or is specific to CBT. The current study examined associations between pre-treatment neural activity during reappraisal and clinical improvement in patients with SAD or MDD following a trial of CBT or supportive therapy (ST), a common-factors comparator arm. METHODS: Participants were 75 treatment-seeking patients with SAD (n = 34) or MDD (n = 41) randomized to CBT (n = 40) or ST (n = 35). Before randomization, patients completed a cognitive reappraisal task during functional magnetic resonance imaging. Additionally, patients completed clinician-administered symptom measures and a self-report cognitive reappraisal measure before treatment and every 2 weeks throughout treatment. RESULTS: Results indicated that pre-treatment neural activity during reappraisal differentially predicted CBT and ST response. Specifically, greater trajectories of symptom improvement throughout treatment were associated with less ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (vlPFC) activity for CBT patients, but more vlPFC activity for ST patients. Also, less baseline dlPFC activity corresponded with greater trajectories of self-reported reappraisal improvement, regardless of treatment arm. CONCLUSIONS: If replicated, findings suggest individual differences in brain response during reappraisal may be transdiagnostically associated with treatment-dependent improvement in symptom severity, but improvement in subjective reappraisal following psychotherapy, more broadly.

Self- and co-regulation of physiological activity during mother-daughter interactions: The role of adolescent non-suicidal self-injury.

BACKGROUND: Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) is a significant public health concern that is thought to increase risk for future self-injurious behaviors, including suicide attempts. Notably, NSSI is especially prevalent among adolescents, which underscores a critical need to identify modifiable risk factors that could be targeted to reduce future risk. The current study examined self- and co-regulation of physiological responses during mother-daughter interactions in adolescent girls with and without a history of NSSI. METHODS: Participants were 60 girls aged 13-17 with (n = 27) and without (n = 33) a history of NSSI and their mothers. Adolescents and their mothers completed positive and negative interaction tasks during which physiological reactivity was assessed via respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA). RESULTS: Using Actor-Partner Interdependence Modeling (APIM), we found that adolescents with an NSSI history demonstrated a higher RSA setpoint than adolescents without this history during the negative, but not positive, interaction task. In addition, there were differences in co-regulation during the negatively valenced interaction, such that mothers of daughters with NSSI were more reactive to fluctuations in their daughters' RSA than mothers of daughters without an NSSI history. CONCLUSIONS: These findings highlight intra- and interpersonal aspects of physiological dysregulation associated with NSSI that could provide promising targets of intervention to reduce future risk in adolescent girls.

Development of Overgeneral Autobiographical Memory in Offspring of Depressed Mothers.

Maternal depression increases the risk for offspring cognitive vulnerabilities, which may be a mechanism underlying the intergenerational transmission of depression. Little is known about how cognitive vulnerabilities, particularly memory biases, develop in the offspring of depressed mothers. Understanding the etiology of memory biases may lead to novel intervention targets. Therefore, the current study examined the prospective impact of maternal depression on the development of offspring overgeneral autobiographical memory (OGM; i.e., the tendency to recall less specific memories), a cognitive vulnerability implicated in the intergenerational transmission of depression. Participants were offspring (ages 8-14; 51% daughters, 81% Caucasian) of mothers with (n= 129) or without (n= 122) a history of major depressive disorder (MDD) during the offspring's life. Mothers and offspring completed assessments every 6 months for 2 years. Compared to offspring of never-depressed mothers, offspring of mothers with a history of MDD recalled less specific memories in response to negative, but not positive, cue words at the initial assessment, and this bias was maintained across the 2-year follow-up. For offspring of depressed, but not never-depressed, mothers, higher levels of maternal depressive symptoms at a given assessment predicted prospective decreases in the children's autobiographical memory specificity. Again, this finding was specific to negative, but not positive, cue words. These results suggest that maternal depression has both short- and long-term effects on the development of offspring OGM to negative cues, which may represent a malleable cognitive vulnerability for the intergenerational transmission of MDD that could be targeted for intervention.

Risk for youth anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic: The interactive impact of financial stress and prepandemic electrocortical reactivity to negative self-referential stimuli.

Despite evidence that stress exposure increases risk for internalizing symptoms in youth, it remains unclear which youth are most vulnerable. This study examined whether youth's prepandemic late positive potential (LPP), an electrocortical marker of sustained attention to affective stimuli, exacerbated the impact of stress on prospective increases in depression and anxiety symptoms from before to during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants were 29 youth (ages 9-16, 82.8% girls) who completed depression and anxiety symptom measures and an affective words task to assess LPP to positive and negative self-referential stimuli prepandemic onset. Postpandemic onset, approximately 16.03 months (SD = 8.86) after their baseline assessments, youth again completed symptom measures as well as the UCLA Life Stress Interview to assess ongoing social and financial chronic stress. Results indicated a significant interaction between youth LPP to negative words and financial stress. Greater exposure to financial stress during the pandemic predicted greater anxiety symptom increases specifically for youth who demonstrated enhanced prepandemic LPP to negative words. Results were specific to the prediction of anxiety, but not depression, symptoms. If replicated in larger studies, findings highlight enhanced LPP to negative stimuli as a promising target for intervention for youth exposed to greater financial stress.

The effects of rumination on internalising symptoms in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic among mothers and their offspring: a brief report.

As a result of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, anxiety and depressive symptoms have risen among children and adults. However, it remains unclear why the effects of the pandemic are so salient for certain individuals. This study examined rumination, a well-established risk factor for internalising disorders, as a predictor of prospective increases in anxiety and depression symptoms in mothers and their offspring. Change in rumination during the pandemic was also examined as a predictor of symptom transmission at the dyadic level. Fifty-three biological mother-child dyads were recruited from two longitudinal studies that had completed their respective baselines prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Mothers and youth (ages 9-15 years, 77.4% female) completed measures of depression and anxiety symptoms and rumination before and during the pandemic. Results revealed baseline rumination was positively associated with internalising symptom changes for mothers, but not youth. Moreover, pre-to-peri pandemic changes in rumination were associated with prospective increases in mother and youth internalising symptoms. Finally, results revealed a significant correlation for pre-to-peri pandemic depressive symptom change among mothers and youth; however, rumination did not mediate this association. Findings highlight changes in rumination as a potential mechanism for internalising symptom risk during the COVID-19 pandemic across development.

Children's history of suicidal ideation and synchrony of facial displays of affect during mother-child interactions.

BACKGROUND: Suicidal thoughts and behavior can begin early in childhood and are a leading cause of death in youth. Although specific mechanisms of risk remain largely unknown, theorists and researchers highlight the importance of the parent-child relationship. The current study focused on one aspect of this relationship: the dynamic exchange of facial affect during interactions. Specifically, we examined the relation between children's history of suicidal ideation (SI) and synchrony of facial expressions during positive and negative mother-child interactions. METHODS: Participants were 353 mother-child dyads. Of these, 44 dyads included a child with an SI history. Dyads engaged in positive and negative discussions during which their facial electromyography was recorded from mothers and children to index second-to-second changes in positive (zygomaticus) and negative (corrugator) facial affect. RESULTS: Child SI dyads were characterized specifically by reduced synchrony of positive facial affect during the positive discussion compared to dyads without child SI. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest child SI dyads exhibit reduced synchrony of normative positive expressions during mother-child interactions. If replicated and extended in longitudinal research, these results may help to explain one mechanism of risk among children with SI.

Resting state functional connectivity correlates of rumination and worry in internalizing psychopathologies.

BACKGROUND: Rumination and worry are repetitive negative thinking (RNT) tendencies that contribute to the development and maintenance of internalizing psychopathologies. Accruing data suggest rumination and worry represent overlapping and unique transdiagnostic cognitive processes. Yet, prior neuroimaging research has mostly focused on rumination in depression, which points to involvement of resting-state brain activity in default mode, executive, salience, and/or affective networks. METHODS: The current study examined relations between brain activity during rest and RNT in a transdiagnostic sample. Resting-state fMRI data was analyzed in 80 unmedicated patients with internalizing conditions. Regression analysis, controlling for anxiety and depression symptoms, was performed with seed regions implicated in default mode, executive, salience, and affective networks. Rumination and worry were assessed with standard self-report measures. RESULTS: Whole-brain regression results showed more rumination and worry jointly corresponded with greater positive resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) between the amygdala and prefrontal regions (i.e., middle frontal gyrus, inferior frontal gyrus). Conversely, more worry (controlling for rumination) corresponded with greater negative rsFC between amygdala and precuneus. No significant results were observed for rumination alone (controlling for worry). CONCLUSIONS: Findings indicate the affective network plays a role in RNT, and distinct patterns of connectivity between amygdala and regions implicated in the executive and default mode networks were observed across patients with internalizing conditions. Results suggest different mechanisms contribute to RNT as a unitary construct and worry as a unique construct.

Differences in cortical thinning across development among individuals with and without anxiety disorders.

BACKGROUND: Anxiety is associated with aberrant patterns of cortical thickness in regions implicated in emotion regulation. However, few studies have examined cortical thickness differences between individuals with anxiety and healthy controls (HCs) across development, particularly during childhood when cortical thinning begins and anxiety risk increases. A better understanding of age-related changes in cortical thickness patterns among anxious individuals is essential to develop plausible targets for early identification. METHODS: The current study examined how age impacted differences in cortical thickness patterns between HCs and anxious individuals. Participants included 233 individuals (ages 7-35) with a current anxiety disorder (n = 149) or no lifetime history of psychopathology (n = 84). Cortical thickness of regions that are implicated in emotion regulation (ventromedial prefrontal cortex [vmPFC], rostral anterior cingulate [rACC], and insula) were assessed. RESULTS: All regions showed significant thinning with age, except left rACC and right insula. However, rates of thinning differed among anxious and HC participants, with anxious participants demonstrating slower rates of right vmPFC thinning. Regions of significance analyses indicated that anxious, relative to HC, participants exhibited thinner right vmPFC before age 11, but thicker right vmPFC after age 24. CONCLUSIONS: Current findings suggest that anxious individuals do not demonstrate normative right vmPFC cortical thinning, which may lead them to exhibit both thinner vmPFC in middle childhood and thicker vmPFC in adulthood compared with HCs. These findings may provide plausible targets for identification of anxiety risk that differ based on developmental stage.

Neighborhood crime risk and resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia in middle childhood: Evidence of gender differences.

Although there is a robust link between resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), a biological marker of emotion regulation, and risk for psychopathology, the factors that may be associated with aberrant RSA development remain unclear. The goal of the current study was to examine the relation between children's resting levels of RSA and neighborhood crime, a macro-level environmental stressor associated with increased risk for multiple forms of psychopathology in youth. The levels of neighborhood crime were obtained using a geocoded neighborhood crime exposure database, allowing for the objective assessment of the likelihood of crime occurring in the child's community. The results indicated that the relation between neighborhood crime and resting RSA differed for girls and boys such that living in a neighborhood with higher risk of exposure to violent crimes was associated with lower RSA for girls, but not boys. These results suggest that living in a higher crime neighborhood is associated with an objective, biologically-based marker of emotion regulation and highlight how neighborhood crime may be specifically associated with risk for girls.

Increased pupil dilation to angry faces predicts interpersonal stress generation in offspring of depressed mothers.

BACKGROUND: Interpersonal stress generation is one mechanism hypothesized to increase risk for the intergenerational transmission of depression. Although there is some evidence of stress generation in offspring of depressed mothers, specific predictors of stress generation in these youth remain unknown. The goal of this study was to examine a peripheral measure of cognitive-affective reactivity (i.e. pupil dilation) to emotional interpersonal stimuli as a predictor of stress generation in offspring of depressed mothers. METHOD: The study included 129 mothers and their offspring (ages 8-15) recruited from the community who participated at two time points separated by 6 months. Youth's average pupil dilation to emotional faces (angry, happy, sad) as well as maternal lifetime history of major depressive disorder were assessed at baseline. In addition, both time points included assessments of youth's levels of self-generated (dependent) and independent episodic life stress in the preceding 6 months. RESULTS: Youth's pupil dilation to angry, but not sad or happy, faces predicted prospective increases in dependent interpersonal stress across the follow-up. This effect was only observed in offspring of depressed mothers and was not seen in offspring of never-depressed mothers. CONCLUSIONS: This study highlights a potential risk factor (heightened reactivity to facial displays of anger) that may identify which offspring of depressed mothers are at greatest risk for interpersonal stress generation.

Synchrony of physiological activity during mother-child interaction: moderation by maternal history of major depressive disorder.

BACKGROUND: Family environment plays an important role in the intergenerational transmission of major depressive disorder (MDD), but less is known about how day-to-day mother-child interactions may be disrupted in families with a history of MDD. Disruptions in mother-child synchrony, the dynamic and convergent exchange of physiological and behavioral cues during interactions, may be one important risk factor. Although maternal MDD is associated with a lack of mother-child synchrony at the behavioral level, no studies have examined the impact of maternal MDD on physiological synchrony. Therefore, this study examined whether maternal history of MDD moderates mother-child physiological synchrony [measured via respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA)] during positive and negative discussions. METHOD: Children aged 7-11 years and mothers with either a history of MDD during the child's lifetime (n = 44) or no lifetime diagnosis of any mood disorder (n = 50) completed positive and negative discussion tasks while RSA was continuously recorded for both child and mother. RESULTS: Results indicated significant between-dyad and within-dyad group differences in physiological synchrony during positive and negative discussions. Between-dyad analyses revealed evidence of synchrony only among never depressed dyads, among whom higher average mother RSA during both discussions was associated with higher average child RSA. Within-dyad analyses revealed that never depressed dyads displayed positive synchrony (RSA concordance), whereas dyads with a history of maternal MDD displayed negative synchrony (RSA discordance) during the negative discussion and that the degree of negative synchrony exhibited during the negative discussion was associated with mothers' and children's levels of sadness. CONCLUSIONS: These results provide preliminary evidence that physiological synchrony is disrupted in families with a history of maternal MDD and may be a potential risk factor for the intergenerational transmission of depression.

Chronic and Episodic Stress in Children of Depressed Mothers.

The goal of this study was to examine chronic and episodic stress in children of mothers with and without a history of major depressive disorder (MDD) during the children's lives. Participants were 255 mothers selected according to their history of MDD (present vs. absent during child's life) and their children (age 8-14; 53% girls, 81% Caucasian). Mothers' and children's histories of MDD were assessed using diagnostic interviews, and their depressive symptoms were assessed via self-report measures. Children's levels of chronic and episodic stress were assessed using a semistructured contextual threat interview. Children of mothers with a history of recurrent MDD, compared to single MDD or no depression, experienced more chronic stress within several domains including peers, mother-child relations, and other family member relations as well as greater episodic dependent interpersonal stress. Each of these group differences was maintained after excluding children with a history of MDD themselves and controlling for their current depressive symptoms. However, only the group difference in chronic peer stress was maintained when controlling for mothers' current depression. The results suggest that children exposed to recurrent maternal MDD experience higher levels of both chronic and episodic stress, at least some of which they contribute to themselves (dependent interpersonal stress) and which is at least partially independent of the effects of children's depression. In addition, much of this stress is associated primarily with current depression in the mother, though it appears that chronic peer stress may remain elevated even after the remission of maternal depression.

Brief report: Overgeneral autobiographical memory in adolescent major depressive disorder.

The current study examined whether overgeneral autobiographical memory (OGM) bias serves as a state-like marker of major depressive disorder (MDD) in adolescence or whether it would also be observed in currently nondepressed adolescents with a history of MDD. We examined differences in OGM to positive and negative cue words between adolescents (aged 11-18 years) with current MDD (n = 15), remitted MDD (n = 25), and no history of any depressive disorder (n = 25). Youth and their parents were administered a structured diagnostic interview and adolescents completed the autobiographical memory test. Compared to never depressed adolescents, adolescents with current or remitted MDD recalled less specific memories in response to positive and negative cue words. The difference between the two MDD groups was small and nonsignificant. These findings suggest that OGM is not simply a state-like marker in currently depressed adolescents, but is also evident in adolescents with remitted MDD, indicating that it may represent a trait-like vulnerability that increases risk for relapse.

Crime Risk and Depression Differentially Relate to Aspects of Sleep in Patients with Major Depression or Social Anxiety.

Individuals with internalizing conditions such as depression or anxiety are at risk of sleep difficulties. Social-ecological models of sleep health propose factors at the individual (e.g., mental health) and neighborhood (e.g., crime risk) levels that contribute to sleep difficulties. However, these relationships have been under-researched in terms of internalizing conditions. Therefore, the current study comprised participants diagnosed with major depression (n = 24) or social anxiety (n = 35). Sleep measures included actigraphic variables (i.e., total sleep time, waking after sleep onset, sleep onset latency) and subjective sleep quality. Geocoding was used to assess nationally-normed crime risk exposure at the person level (e.g., murder, assault) and property level (e.g., robbery, burglary). Analyses consisted of independent t-tests to evaluate potential differences between diagnostic groups. To examine relationships, multiple regressions were used with internalizing symptoms, crime risk, and age as independent variables and sleep measures as the dependent variable. The t-test results revealed that groups differed in symptoms and age but not sleep or neighborhood crime. Regression results revealed crime risk positively corresponded with sleep onset latency but no other sleep measures. Also, only depression positively corresponded with total sleep time. Preliminary findings suggest exposure to crime and depression relate differentially to facets of sleep in individuals with internalizing conditions.

Relations Between Neighborhood Disadvantage and Electrocortical Reward Processing in Youth at High and Low Risk for Depression.

Neighborhood-level disadvantage during childhood is a determinant of health that is hypothesized to confer risk for psychopathology via alterations in neuro-affective processing, including reward responsiveness. However, little research has examined the impact of socioeconomic disadvantage assessed at the community-level on reward processing, which may have important implications for targeted dissemination efforts. Furthermore, not all youth exposed to neighborhood disadvantage may exhibit alterations in reward reactivity, highlighting the need to consider factors that may exacerbate risk for blunted reward reactivity. The current study examined associations between geocoded indices of neighborhood disadvantage and electrocortical reward responsivity in youth and tested whether findings were moderated by maternal history of depression. The sample included 137 youth recruited for studies on the intergenerational transmission of depression. Neighborhood disadvantage was assessed using the Area Deprivation Index (ADI) while the reward positivity (RewP), an event-related potential, indexed reward response. Results revealed a significant interaction between ADI and maternal history of depression on youth RewP, such that greater neighborhood disadvantage was significantly associated with lower reward responsiveness, but only for youth with a maternal history of depression. Results were maintained controlling for youth internalizing symptoms and individual-level socioeconomic factors. Findings suggest that neighborhood disadvantage may impact youth neural reward processing, at least partially independently of individual risk factors, for youth with a maternal history of depression. If replicated, results suggest intervention efforts may be implemented at the community level to enhance reward responsiveness, specifically for youth living in low-resourced neighborhoods with a maternal history of depression.

Aspects of Area Deprivation Index in Relation to Hippocampal Volume Among Children.

Importance: Area deprivation index (ADI) has been shown to be associated with reduced hippocampal volume (HV) among youths. The social environment may interact with the association between ADI and HV. Objective: To investigate which aspects of ADI are uniquely associated with bilateral HV and whether school and family environments have moderating interactions in associations between ADI and HV. Design, Setting, and Participants: This cross-sectional study used data from the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development (ABCD) study. Participants aged 9 and 10 years were recruited from 21 sites in the US between September 2016 and August 2018. Data analysis was performed between March 2023 and April 2024. Exposures: ADI aspects were derived from participant primary home addresses provided by parents or guardians. Main Outcomes and Measures: HV was automatically segmented from structural brain images ascertained from magnetic resonance imaging. Multiple generalized linear mixed modeling tested associations between 9 indices of ADI and bilateral HV, with family groups and recruitment sites as random effects. After stepwise backward selection, models were adjusted for individual-level covariates, including age, sex, race and ethnicity, parental education, household income, and estimated intracranial volume. Results: This study included 10 114 participants aged 9 and 10 years (median [IQR] age, 9.92 [9.33-10.48] years; 5294 male [52.3%]; 200 Asian [2.0%], 1411 Black [14.0%], and 6655 White [65.8%]; 1959 Hispanic [19.4%]). After stepwise backward selection and adjusting for covariates, only the percentage of neighborhood-level single-parent households was associated with right HV (adjusted ß per 1-SD increase in single-parent households, -0.03; 95% CI, -0.06 to -0.01; P = .01). School environment interacted with neighborhood-level single-parent households in its association with right HV (adjusted ß per 1-SD increase in score, 0.02; 95% CI, 0.01 to 0.03; P = .003), such that there was an inverse association only among those at a school with the mean environment score (adjusted ß per 1% increase in single-parent households, -0.03; 95% CI, -0.05 to -0.01; P = .02) and worse (-1 SD score) school environment score (adjusted ß per 1% increase in single-parent households, -0.05; 95% CI, -0.09 to -0.01; P < .001) but not among those at better (+1 SD score) school environments. Conclusions and Relevance: In this study, an increased percentage of neighborhood-level single-parent households was associated with reduced right HV among children in schools with the mean or worse but not better environment score. These findings suggest that longitudinal research concerning the association of neighborhood-level characteristics and school environments with hippocampal development may be warranted to better understand complex interactions between various social factors and child neurodevelopment and mental health outcomes.

Targeting positive valence systems function in children of mothers with depressive symptoms: A pilot randomized trial of an RDoC-Informed preventive intervention.

Reduced activation of the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) positive valence systems (PVS) is observed in high-risk (HR) children of depressed mothers and predictive of future psychopathologies. We developed a dyadic, neuroscience-informed preventive intervention, Family Promoting Positive Emotions (FPPE), designed to prevent psychopathology in HR children by targeting PVS processes. We evaluated the initial efficacy of FPPE compared to written information (WI) psychoeducation in engaging PVS-related targets and reducing perceived stress and emotional distress symptoms in HR youth. Participants included 74 children ages 8-12 years and their biological mothers reporting elevated depressive symptoms. Following random assignment, 55 dyads completed FPPE (n = 29) or WI (n = 26) and pre-post assessments of child clinical symptoms. Youth completed a reinforcement learning task and 10 days of positive affect ratings to assess PVS-related targets. Results revealed a small within-subjects increase in child daily positive affect in FPPE, but not WI. Further, FPPE resulted in reductions in mother-reported child perceived stress and symptoms of anger, anxiety, and depression with medium-to-large within-subjects effects. Intervention effects on reinforcement learning and child-rated clinical symptoms were not observed. This study suggests FPPE shows promise in enhancing positive affect and reducing the emergence of clinical symptoms in HR children. CLINICALTRIALS.GOV IDENTIFIER: NCT05223842.

Neural responsiveness to reward and suicidal ideation in social anxiety and major depression before and after psychotherapy.

Suicidality is prevalent in Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) and Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). Limited data indicate the reward positivity (RewP), a neurophysiological index of reward responsivity, and subjective capacity for pleasure may serve as brain and behavioral assays for suicide risk though this has yet to be examined in SAD or MDD in the context of psychotherapy. Therefore, the current study tested whether suicidal ideation (SI) relates to RewP and subjective capacity for anticipatory and consummatory pleasure at baseline and whether Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) impacts these measures. Participants with SAD (n = 55) or MDD (n = 54) completed a monetary reward task (gains vs. losses) during electroencephalogram (EEG) before being randomized to CBT or supportive therapy (ST), a comparator common factors arm. EEG and SI data were collected at baseline, mid-treatment, and post-treatment; capacity for pleasure was collected at baseline and post-treatment. Baseline results showed participants with SAD or MDD were comparable in SI, RewP, and capacity for pleasure. When controlling for symptom severity, SI negatively corresponded with RewP following gains and SI positively corresponded with RewP following losses at baseline. Yet, SI did not relate to subjective capacity for pleasure. Evidence of a distinct SI-RewP association suggests RewP may serve as a transdiagnositic brain-based marker of SI. Treatment outcome revealed that among participants with SI at baseline, SI significantly decreased regardless of treatment arm; also, consummatory, but not anticipatory, pleasure increased across participants regardless of treatment arm. RewP was stable following treatment, which has been reported in other clinical trial studies.

Associations between depression-relevant genetic risk and youth stress exposure: Evidence of gene-environment correlations.

Familial risk for depression is associated with youth exposure to self-generated dependent stressful life events and independent events that are out of youth's control. Familial risk includes both genetic and environmental influences, raising the question of whether genetic influences, specifically, are associated with youth exposure to both dependent and independent stressful life events. To address this question, this study examined the relation between a genome-wide association study (GWAS)-derived depression-based polygenic risk score (DEP-PRS) and youth experiences of dependent and independent stress. Participants were 180 youth (ages 8 to 14, 52.2% female) of European ancestry and their biological mothers recruited based on the presence versus absence of a history of major depressive disorder (MDD) in the mothers. Youth and mothers were interviewed every 6 months for 2 years regarding the occurrence of stressful life events, which were coded as independent or dependent (self-generated). Results indicated that youth's DEP-PRS and maternal history of MDD were uniquely associated with increased exposure to both dependent and independent events. Similar results were observed when examining major versus minor events separately, with the additional finding of a DEP-PRS × mother MDD interaction for major dependent events such that levels of moderate to severe dependent life stressors were highest among youth with high DEP-PRSs who also had mothers with MDD. These results not only support the presence of depression-relevant gene-environment correlations (rGEs), but also highlight the possibility that rather than only capturing depression-specific genetic liability, GWAS-derived polygenic risk scores may also capture genetic variance contributing to stress exposure. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Anterior cingulate cortex activation during attentional control as a transdiagnostic marker of psychotherapy response: a randomized clinical trial.

Anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) response during attentional control in the context of task-irrelevant emotional faces is a promising biomarker of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) outcome in patients with social anxiety disorder (SAD). However, it is unclear whether this biomarker extends to major depressive disorder (MDD) and is specific to CBT outcome. In the current study, 72 unmedicated patients with SAD (n = 39) or MDD (n = 33) completed a validated emotional interference paradigm during functional magnetic resonance imaging before treatment. Participants viewed letter strings superimposed on task-irrelevant threat and neutral faces under low perceptual load (high interference) and high perceptual load (low interference). Biomarkers comprised anatomy-based rostral ACC (rACC) and dorsal ACC (dACC) response to task-irrelevant threat (>neutral) faces under low and high perceptual load. Patients were randomly assigned to 12 weeks of CBT or supportive therapy (ST) (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT03175068). Clinician-administered measures of social anxiety and depression severity were obtained at baseline and every 2 weeks throughout treatment (7 assessments total) by an assessor blinded to the treatment arm. A composite symptom severity score was submitted to latent growth curve models. Results showed more baseline rACC activity to task-irrelevant threat>neutral faces under low, but not high, perceptual load predicted steeper trajectories of symptom improvement throughout CBT or ST. Post-hoc analyses indicated this effect was driven by subgenual ACC (sgACC) activation. Findings indicate ACC activity during attentional control may be a transdiagnostic neural predictor of general psychotherapy outcome.