Hostname: page-component-5c6d5d7d68-wtssw Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-08-08T09:05:54.559Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Negative emotions towards others are diminished in remitted major depression

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 April 2020

R. Zahn ,
K.E. Lythe ,
J.A. Gethin ,
S. Green ,
J.F.W. Deakin ,
C. Workman  and
J. Moll
R. Zahn*
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry at King's College London, Department of Psychological Medicine, Centre for Affective Disorders, London, SE5 8AZ, United Kingdom The University of Manchester and Manchester Academic Health Sciences Centre, School of Psychological Sciences, Neuroscience and Aphasia Research Unit, Manchester, M13 9PL, United Kingdom
K.E. Lythe
Affiliation:
The University of Manchester and Manchester Academic Health Sciences Centre, School of Psychological Sciences, Neuroscience and Aphasia Research Unit, Manchester, M13 9PL, United Kingdom
J.A. Gethin
Affiliation:
The University of Manchester and Manchester Academic Health Sciences Centre, School of Psychological Sciences, Neuroscience and Aphasia Research Unit, Manchester, M13 9PL, United Kingdom
S. Green
Affiliation:
The University of Manchester and Manchester Academic Health Sciences Centre, School of Psychological Sciences, Neuroscience and Aphasia Research Unit, Manchester, M13 9PL, United Kingdom
J.F.W. Deakin
Affiliation:
The University of Manchester and Manchester Academic Health Sciences Centre, Institute of Brain, Behaviour and Mental Health, Neuroscience and Psychiatry Unit, Manchester, M13 9PL, United Kingdom
C. Workman
Affiliation:
The University of Manchester and Manchester Academic Health Sciences Centre, School of Psychological Sciences, Neuroscience and Aphasia Research Unit, Manchester, M13 9PL, United Kingdom The University of Manchester and Manchester Academic Health Sciences Centre, Institute of Brain, Behaviour and Mental Health, Neuroscience and Psychiatry Unit, Manchester, M13 9PL, United Kingdom
J. Moll
Affiliation:
Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience Unit, D’Or Institute for Research and Education (IDOR), 22280-080, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
*
*Corresponding author. Institute of Psychiatry at King's College London, Department of Psychological Medicine, Centre for Affective Disorders, London, SE5 8AZ, United Kingdom. E-mail address:roland.zahn@kcl.ac.uk (R. Zahn).
Get access

Abstract

Background:

One influential view is that vulnerability to major depressive disorder (MDD) is associated with a proneness to experience negative emotions in general. In contrast, blame attribution theories emphasise the importance of blaming oneself rather than others for negative events. Our previous exploratory study provided support for the attributional hypothesis that patients with remitted MDD show no overall bias towards negative emotions, but a selective bias towards emotions entailing self-blame relative to emotions that entail blaming others. More specifically, we found a decreased proneness for contempt/disgust towards others relative to oneself (i.e. self-contempt bias). Here, we report a definitive test of the competing general negative versus specific attributional bias theories of MDD.

Methods:

We compared a medication-free remitted MDD (n = 101) and a control group (n = 70) with no family or personal history of MDD on a previously validated experimental test of moral emotions. The task measures proneness to specific emotions associated with different types of self-blame (guilt, shame, self-contempt/disgust, self-indignation/anger) and blame of others (other-indignation/anger, other-contempt/disgust) whilst controlling for the intensity of unpleasantness.

Results:

We confirmed the hypothesis that patients with MDD exhibit an increased self-contempt bias with a reduction in contempt/disgust towards others. Furthermore, they also showed a decreased proneness for indignation/anger towards others.

Conclusions:

This corroborates the prediction that vulnerability to MDD is associated with an imbalance of specific self- and other-blaming emotions rather than a general increase in negative emotions. This has important implications for neurocognitive models and calls for novel focussed interventions to rebalance blame in MDD.

Keywords

Moral emotionsAttributional styleMajor depressive disorderVulnerabilitySelf-blameOvergeneralization
Type
Original article
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 30 , Issue 4 , June 2015 , pp. 448 - 453
Copyright
Copyright © Elsevier Masson SAS 2015

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abdul-Hamid, S, Denman, C, Dudas, RBSelf-relevant disgust and self-harm urges in patients with borderline personality disorder and depression: a pilot study with a newly designed psychological challenge. Plos One 2014;9:e99696.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Abramson, LY, Seligman, MEP, Teasdale, JDLearned helplessness in humans – critique and reformulation. J Abnorm Psychol 1978;87:49–74.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
American Psychiatric Association. DSM-IV, Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, 4th edition Text Revision, 34: Washington DC: American Psychiatric Association; 2000.Google Scholar
Bebbington, P3 Cognitive theories of depression. Psychol Med 1985;15:759–769.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bentall, RP, Kaney, SAttributional lability in depression and paranoia. Br J Clin Psychol 2005;44:475–488.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bentall, RP, Corcoran, R, Howard, R, Blackwood, N, Kinderman, PPersecutory delusions: a review and theoretical integration. Clin Psychol Rev 2001;21:1143–1192.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Berrios, GE, Bulbena, A, Bakshi, N, Dening, TR, Jenaway, A, Markar, Het al.Feelings of guilt in major depression – conceptual and psychometric aspects. Br J Psychiatry 1992;160:781–787.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bhagwagar, Z, Cowen, PJ‘It's not over when it's over’: persistent neurobiological abnormalities in recovered depressed patients. Psychol Med 2008;38:307–313.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Costa, PT, McCrae, RRRevised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R) and NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) manual. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources; 1992.Google Scholar
Eaton, WW, Shao, H, Nestadt, G, Lee, HB, Bienvenu, OJ, Zandi, PPopulation-based study of first onset and chronicity in major depressive disorder. Arch Gen Psychiatry 2008;65:513–520.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Eysenck, SBG, Eysenck, HJ, Barrett, PA Revised Version of the Psychoticism Scale. Pers Indiv Differ 1985;6:21–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fessler, DToward an Understanding Of the Universality of Second Order Emotions. In: Hinton, A editor. Beyond Nature or Nurture: Biocultural Approaches to the Emotions. New York: Cambridge University Press; 1999. p. 75–116.Google Scholar
First, MB, Spitzer, RL, Gibbon, M, Williams, JBWStructured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV-TR Axis I Disorders, Research Version, Patient Edition. (SCID-I/P). New York: Biometrics Research, New York State Psychiatric Institute; 2002.Google Scholar
Fischer, AH, Roseman, IJBeat them or ban them: The characteristics and social functions of anger and contempt. J Pers Soc Psychol 2007;93:103–115.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ghatavi, K, Nicolson, R, MacDonald, C, Osher, S, Levitt, ADefining guilt in depression: A comparison of subjects with major depression, chronic medical illness and healthy controls. J Affect Disord 2002;68:307–315.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gilbert, P, McEwan, K, Bellew, R, Mills, A, Gale, CThe dark side of competition: How competitive behaviour and striving to avoid inferiority are linked to depression, anxiety, stress and self-harm. Psychol Psychother-Theory Research and Practice 2009;82:123–136.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Green, S, Lambon Ralph, MA, Moll, J, Stamatakis, EA, Grafman, J, Zahn, RSelective functional integration between anterior temporal and distinct fronto-mesolimbic regions during guilt and indignation. Neuroimage 2010;52:1720–1726.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Green, S, Moll, J, Deakin, JFW, Hulleman, J, Zahn, RProneness to Decreased Negative Emotions in Major Depressive Disorder when Blaming Others rather than Oneself. Psychopathology 2013;46:34–44.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hecht, H, van Calker, D, Berger, M, von Zerssen, DPersonality in patients with affective disorders and their relatives. J Affect Disord 1998;51:33–43.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Higgins, ETSelf-discrepancy – a theory relating self and affect. Psychol Rev 1987;94:319–340.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ille, R, Schoggl, H, Kapfhammer, HP, Arendasy, M, Sommer, M, Schienle, ASelf-disgust in mental disorders – symptom-related or disorder-specific? Compr Psychiatry 2014;55:938–943.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jaspers, KGeneral Psychopathology, 7th ed., Chicago: Chicago University Press; 1963/1959.Google Scholar
Kim, S, Thibodeau, R, Jorgensen, RSShame, Guilt, and Depressive Symptoms: A Meta-Analytic Review. Psychol Bull 2011;137:68–96.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kinderman, P, Bentall, RPCausal attributions in paranoia and depression: Internal, personal, and situational attributions for negative events. J Abnorm Psychol 1997;106:341–345.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lewisohn, PM, Steinmetz, JL, Larson, DW, Franklin, JDepression-related cognitions: Antecedent or consequence? J Abnorm Psychol 1981;90:213–219.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moll, J, Zahn, R, de Oliveira-Souza, R, Krueger, F, Grafman, JThe neural basis of human moral cognition. Nat Rev Neurosci 2005;6:799–809.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Moll, J, de Oliveira-Souza, R, Zahn, RThe Neural Basis of moral cognition – sentiments, concepts and values. Ann NY Acad Sci 2008;1124:161–180.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Moll, J, Zahn, R, de Oliveira-Souza, R, Bramati, IE, Krueger, F, Tura, Bet al.Impairment of prosocial sentiments is associated with frontopolar and septal damage in frontotemporal dementia. Neuroimage 2011;54:1735–1742.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Montgomery, SA, Åsberg, MA new depression scale designed to be sensitive to change. Br J Psychiatry 1979;134:382–389.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Morris, BH, Bylsma, LM, Rottenberg, JDoes emotion predict the course of major depressive disorder? A review of prospective studies. Br J Clin Psychol 2009;48:255–273.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
O’Connor, LE, Berry, JW, Weiss, J, Bush, M, Sampson, HInterpersonal guilt: The development of a new measure. J Clin Psychol 1997;53:73–89.3.0.CO;2-I>CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
O’Connor, LE, Berry, JW, Weiss, JInterpersonal guilt, shame, and psychological problems. J Soc Clin Psychol 1999;18:181–203.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O’Connor, LE, Berry, JW, Weiss, J, Gilbert, PGuilt, fear, submission, and empathy in depression. J Affect Disord 2002;71:19–27.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Overton, PG, Markland, FE, Taggart, HS, Bagshaw, GL, Simpson, JSelf-disgust mediates the relationship between dysfunctional cognitions and depressive symptomatology. Emotion 2008;8:379–385.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Post, RMTransduction of psychosocial stress into the neurobiology of recurrent affective-disorder. Am J Psychiat 1992;149:999–1010.Google ScholarPubMed
Pulcu, E, Lythe, K, Elliott, R, Green, S, Moll, J, Deakin, JFWet al.Increased Amygdala Response to Shame in Remitted Major Depressive Disorder. Plos One 2014;9.Google ScholarPubMed
Sartorius, N, Jablensky, A, Gulbinat, W, Ernberg, GWHO collaborative study - assessment of depressive-disorders. Psychol Med 1980;10:743–749.Google ScholarPubMed
Simpson, J, Hillman, R, Crawford, T, Overton, PSelf-esteem and self-disgust both mediate the relationship between dysfunctional cognitions and depressive symptoms. Motivation and Emotion 2010;34:399–406.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tangney, JP, Dearing, RLThe test of self-conscious affect-3 (TOSCA-3). Fairfax: George Mason University; 2000.Google Scholar
Tangney, JP, Stuewig, J, Mashek, DJMoral emotions and moral behavior. Annu Rev Psychol 2007;58:345–372.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Thompson, RJ, Berenbaum, HShame reactions to everyday dilemmas are associated with depressive disorder. Cogn Ther Res 2006;30:415–425.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Von Zerssen, D, Poessl, JThe premorbid personality of patients with different subtypes of an affective illness statistical analysis of blind assignment of case history data to clinical diagnoses. J Affect Disord 1990;18:39–50.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Watson, D, Clark, LA, Carey, GPositive and Negative Affectivity and Their Relation to Anxiety and Depressive-Disorders. J Abnorm Psychol 1988;97:346–353.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Watson, D, Clark, LA, Tellegen, ADevelopment and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect – the panas scales. J Pers Soc Psychol 1988;54:1063–1070.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Weiner, BAn Attributional Theory of Achievement-Motivation and Emotion. Psychol Rev 1985;92:548–573.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Whelton, WJ, Greenberg, LSEmotion in self-criticism. Pers Indiv Differ 2005;38:1583–1595.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wichers, M, Geschwind, N, van Os, J, Peeters, FScars in depression: is a conceptual shift necessary to solve the puzzle? Psychol Med 2010;40:359–365.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zahn, R, Moll, J, Krueger, F, Huey, ED, Garrido, G, Grafman, JSocial concepts are represented in the superior anterior temporal cortex. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2007;104:6430–6435.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zahn, R, Moll, J, Paiva, M, Garrido, G, Kruger, F, Huey, EDet al.The Neural basis of Human Social Values: Evidence from fMRI. Cereb Cortex 2009;19:276–283.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zahn, R, de Oliveira-Souza, R, Bramati, I, Garrido, G, Moll, JSubgenual cingulate activity reflects individual differences in empathic concern. Neurosci Lett 2009;457:107–110.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zahn, R, Garrido, G, Moll, J, Grafman, JIndividual differences in posterior cortical volume correlate with proneness to pride and gratitude. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2013.Google ScholarPubMed
Supplementary material: File

Zahn et al. supplementary material

Supplementary materials

Download Zahn et al. supplementary material(File)
File 32.2 KB
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.