The Immune System as a Sensory System: Implications for Psychology

The brain and immune system form a bidirectional communication network in which the immune system operates as a sense organ to provide the brain with information about infection and injury, thereby allowing the brain to coordinate a defense. Activated immune cells release proteins called cytokines, which signal the brain by both blood and neural routes. Information that reaches the brain across this sensory channel produces large changes in neural activity, behavior, mood, and cognitive functioning. Appreciation of the functioning of this network may illuminate poorly understood aspects of stress, depression, and intraindividual variability in behavior, mood, and cognition.     

厌恶情绪与自杀行为的关系

自杀导致人类死亡的人数与日俱增,然而自杀的心理机制却并不清楚。最近研究发现,厌恶情绪是导致自杀的主要情绪因素,个体因为自身厌恶而走向自杀。厌恶情绪是一种对自己和他人排泄物等反感的基本情绪,促进个体远离毒性和疾病,从而产生“免疫行为”。许多心理问题来自于对周围人或事物的厌恶,有自杀行为的个体对自身极其厌恶,说明他们的厌恶情绪出现了问题。如同躯体免疫攻击自身一样,自身厌恶是自杀意念的关键因素,早年创伤是其根源,生活压力和精神疾病也参与厌恶诱发自杀意念。厌恶诱发自杀意念的神经基础与HPA轴和五羟色胺系统有关。未来研究可利用神经影像和电生理等神经科学技术,检验自杀行为的神经机制,探讨厌恶情绪影响自杀行为的心理和神经机制。     

校园氛围与青少年问题行为的关系:同伴侵害的中介作用

许多研究表明,青少年感知的校园氛围对其问题行为有重要影响。但是,校园氛围起作用的中介机制仍有待进一步探讨。本研究旨在考察青少年感知的校园氛围与其问题行为(行为不良、抑郁)的关系,以及同伴侵害在其中的中介作用。采用分层整群抽样的方法,选取广东省10所学校2758名初中生作为被试,匿名填写社会经济地位问卷、家庭功能问卷、校园氛围感知问卷、青少年同伴侵害问卷、儿童抑郁调查表、青少年行为不良指数问卷。结果表明:(1)在控制了性别、年龄、社会经济地位和家庭功能后,积极的校园氛围显著负向预测青少年的行为不良和抑郁。(2)同伴侵害在校园氛围与青少年行为不良和抑郁之间具有中介作用。     

Issues in the treatment of depressed children

Basic research into the cognitive, behavioral, familial, and physiological disturbances associated with depressive disorders during childhood is reviewed. Implications for the development of a treatment program are discussed and a comprehensive treatment model is proposed. The proposed model includes intervention strategies for the child, parents, family, and school. The child component consists of intervention strategies for the affective, cognitive, behavioral, and physiological disturbances that are evident from the existing research. The parent training component is designed to address disturbances in parenting due to cognitive disturbances and skills deficits. The family therapy component emphasizes changing interaction patterns that communicate schema-consistent maladaptive interactions. A school consultation component is proposed in which school personnel support the skills training through prompting use of the skills and reinforcement of the use of the coping skills.     

青少年网络受欺负与抑郁：压力感与网络社会支持的作用

采用网络受欺负量表、压力感量表、网络社会支持问卷和流调中心用抑郁量表对751名初中生进行调查,考察了青少年网络受欺负与抑郁的关系、压力感在网络受欺负与抑郁间的中介作用以及网络社会支持在其中的调节作用。结果表明：（1）青少年网络受欺负与抑郁存在显著正相关;（2）压力感在网络受欺负和抑郁间起完全中介作用;（3）网络社会支持在网络受欺负事件引起的压力感与抑郁间起调节作用,压力感对青少年抑郁的影响,随网络社会支持水平的提高而降低。     

The “Brightening” Effect: Reactions to Positive Events in the Daily Lives of Individuals With Major Depressive Disorder and Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Depressed individuals are less reactive than healthy individuals to positive stimuli in the laboratory, but accumulating evidence suggests that they are more emotionally reactive to positive events in their daily lives. The present study probed the boundaries of this curious “mood brightening” effect and investigated its specificity to major depressive disorder (MDD) vis-à-vis generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), its closest boundary condition. We used ecological momentary assessment to measure reactions to positive events over one week in individuals with MDD (n = 38), GAD (n = 36), comorbid MDD-GAD (n = 38), and no psychopathology (n = 33). Depressed individuals responded to positive events with larger changes in affect, cognition, reported withdrawal (but not approach) behavior, and symptoms than healthy controls. More severe depression assessed before the sampling week predicted greater brightening. Altered reactivity to positive events was relatively specific to MDD when compared with GAD, similar to patterns found for other positive emotional processes. The robustness, scope, and relative specificity of the brightening effect highlights the need to resolve conflicting findings across laboratory and non-laboratory studies to advance understanding of altered reactivity in emotional disorders.     

Affective variability in depression: Revisiting the inertia–instability paradox

How can depression be associated with both instability and inertia of affect? Koval et al. (2013, Emotion, 13, 1132) showed that this paradox can be solved by accounting for the statistical overlap between measures of affect dynamics. Nevertheless, these measures are still often studied in isolation. The present study is a replication of the Koval et al. study. We used experience sampling data (three times a day, 1 month) of 462 participants from the general population and a subsample thereof (N = 100) selected to reflect a uniform range of depressive symptoms. Dynamics measures were calculated for momentary negative affect scores. When adjusting for the overlap among affect dynamics measures, depression was associated with ‘dispersion’ (SD) but not ‘instability’ (RMSSD) or ‘inertia’ (AR) of negative affect. The association between dispersion and depression became non‐significant when mean levels of negative affect were adjusted for. These findings substantiate the evidence that the presumed association between depression and instability is largely accounted for by the SD, while the association between dispersion and depression may largely reflect mean levels of affect. Depression may thus not be related to higher instability per se, which would be in line with theories on the adaptive function of moment‐to‐moment fluctuations in affect.     

Like mother,like child? Maternal determinants of children's early social-emotional development

Social-Emotional competencies evolve early in life. For example, early emotion regulation is learned primarily in the context of mother–child interaction, which may allow for maternal influences to shape children's social-emotional development. The aim of the current study was to longitudinally examine maternal determinants of children's early social-emotional development in a community-based sample of first-time mothers (N = 61, aged 22–39 years). Specifically, we used structural equation modeling to examine how maternal emotion regulation difficulties and subclinical depression directly and indirectly, through sensitivity and postnatal bonding, assessed at 6 to 8 months predicted child outcomes at 12 to 16 months. We found that mothers’ sensitivity predicted fewer social-emotional and behavioral problems and that stronger bonding predicted fewer problems and more social-emotional competencies. Emotion regulation difficulties were significantly associated with depressive symptoms; yet, when accounting for shared variances, both factors differentially predicted less positive child outcomes such that more difficulties indirectly, through poorer bonding, predicted greater delay in competencies, and more symptoms indirectly, through less sensitivity, predicted more problems. Current findings underline the significance of maternal factors impacting the quality of mother–child interaction for children's positive development. Potential implications for early prevention programs to support children who are otherwise at risk for negative emotional outcomes due to mothers’ emotional state postpartum are discussed.     

Influence of in utero exposure to maternal depression and natural disaster-related stress on infant temperament at 6 months: The children of Superstorm Sandy

This study examined the effects of in utero exposure to maternal depression and Superstorm Sandy, a hurricane that hit metropolitan New York in 2012, on infant temperament at 6 months. Temperament was assessed using the Infant Behavior Questionnaire-Revised. Maternal depression was measured by the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale. The main effects and the interaction of maternal depression and Sandy exposure on infant temperament were examined using a multivariable generalized linear model. Results show that prenatal maternal depression was associated with lower emotion regulation and greater distress. Stratification and interaction analyses suggested that the adverse effects of prenatal maternal depression on problematic temperament were amplified by in utero Sandy exposure. This study underscores the importance of providing prenatal screening and treatment for maternal depression during pregnancy while also identifying high-risk families who may have suffered from disaster-related traumas to provide necessary services. As the frequency of natural disasters may increase due to climate change, it is important to understand the consequences of in utero stress on child development and to formulate plans for early identification.