Rumination and inhibitory difficulties: exploring the role of state rumination with emotionally self-relevant words

The aim of this project was to examine the roles of working memory capacity, depressive symptoms, and rumination (state and trait) in inhibitory difficulties with self-relevant emotional words following a rumination/distraction manipulation using the negative affective priming cognitive task. It was hypothesized that brooding would predict inhibitory difficulties with negative rather than positive self-relevant words in a non-clinical undergraduate sample (N = 148). Additionally, it was proposed that state rumination would play a mediating role in the relationship between brooding and inhibitory difficulties with emotional words, a relationship that would be further moderated by working memory capacity. Though brooding marginally predicted negative bias scores using multiple regression, this valence-specific finding was not confirmed with multi-level statistical analysis. Results failed to support the proposed moderated meditational model, a finding that may be impacted by restricted range of dysphoric affect in the sample. However, results from linear regression indicated that brooding predicted state rumination regardless of condition

Examining self-relevance as a factor in the attentional bias in induced dysphoria using self-generated pictures

The proposed study investigated an attentional bias in experimentally-induced dysphoria using self-relevant pictures in a dot probe study design. Participants generated their own photographs, using digital cameras to capture stimuli that are self-relevant and emotional to them. It was hypothesized that individuals with induced dysphoria would exhibit a greater attentional bias to negative stimuli than participants with induced happiness when self-generated pictures were used in a dot-probe paradigm. In addition, exploratory analyses were conducted to examine possible gender effects. To examine the first hypothesis, a MANOVA was conducted including the priming groups and gender as the predictors and the bias scores as the dependent variables. Results did not support the primary hypothesis. Regarding gender effects, females responded longer on all trials, and the interaction of gender and priming condition neared significance for negative attentional bias scores. It was also hypothesized that the importance and valence ratings of the pictures would significantly predict response latency, but this prediction was not supported by the data. The findings of this study are discussed in terms of cognitive theories of attentional biases in depression as well as methodological issues in this line of work

A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of antidepressants in Parkinson disease

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) and a serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (SNRI) in the treatment of depression in Parkinson disease (PD). METHODS: A total of 115 subjects with PD were enrolled at 20 sites. Subjects were randomized to receive an SSRI (paroxetine; n = 42), an SNRI (venlafaxine extended release [XR]; n = 34), or placebo (n = 39). Subjects met DSM-IV criteria for a depressive disorder, or operationally defined subsyndromal depression, and scored >12 on the first 17 items of the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D). Subjects were followed for 12 weeks (6-week dosage adjustment, 6-week maintenance). Maximum daily dosages were 40 mg for paroxetine and 225 mg for venlafaxine XR. The primary outcome measure was change in the HAM-D score from baseline to week 12. RESULTS: Treatment effects (relative to placebo), expressed as mean 12-week reductions in HAM-D score, were 6.2 points (97.5% confidence interval [CI] 2.2 to 10.3, p = 0.0007) in the paroxetine group and 4.2 points (97.5% CI 0.1 to 8.4, p = 0.02) in the venlafaxine XR group. No treatment effects were seen on motor function. CONCLUSIONS: Both paroxetine and venlafaxine XR significantly improved depression in subjects with PD. Both medications were generally safe and well tolerated and did not worsen motor function. CLASSIFICATION OF EVIDENCE: This study provides Class I evidence that paroxetine and venlafaxine XR are effective in treating depression in patients with PD