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

The family environment plays an important role in the intergenerational transmission of 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, the current study examined whether maternal history of MDD moderates mother-child physiological synchrony (measured via RSA) during positive and negative discussions

The Associations Between Internalized Racism, Racial Identity, and Psychological Distress

Internalized racism, or the acceptance of negative stereotypes about one’s own racial group, is associated with psychological distress; yet, few studies have explored the longitudinal impact of internalized racism on the psychological well-being of African American emerging adults. Furthermore, racial identity’s role as a protective factor in the context of internalized racism remains unclear. This study examined the longitudinal impact of internalized racism on psychological distress (depressive and anxiety symptoms) and the moderating role of racial identity beliefs among 171 African American emerging adults. Full cross-lagged panel models revealed no main effects of internalized racism beliefs on psychological distress. However, several racial identity beliefs moderated the relationship between internalized racism beliefs and changes in psychological distress over a year later. Initial levels of alteration of physical appearance, internalization of negative stereotypes, and hair change internalized racism beliefs were related to subsequent psychological distress, but only for those with certain levels of racial centrality, private regard, public regard, and assimilationist, humanist, and nationalist ideology beliefs. These findings suggest that, over time, internalized racism and racial identity beliefs can combine to influence the psychological well-being of African American emerging adults

Increased neural and pupillary reactivity to emotional faces in adolescents with current and remitted major depressive disorder.

This study combined multiple levels of analysis to examine whether disrupted neural and pupillary reactivity to emotional faces serves as a state- or trait-like marker of adolescent major depressive disorder (MDD). The study examined differences in pupil dilation and the event-related potential (ERP) late positive potential (LPP) component to emotional faces before and after a negative mood induction between 71 adolescents (age 11–18 years) with (i) a current diagnosis of MDD, (ii) a past episode of MDD currently in full remission and (iii) no lifetime history of any Axis I disorder. Relative to healthy control (HC) youth, adolescents with current or remitted MDD exhibited an enhanced LPP and pupillary response to all emotional facial expressions (fearful, happy and sad). This difference in reactivity between remitted depressed and HC adolescents persisted following the negative mood induction. Results also revealed that LPP and pupillary responses to emotional faces were significantly related, but only among the currently depressed adolescents. This study suggests that increased physiological and neural activation in response to social-emotional stimuli may not only characterize currently depressed adolescents, but also remains following MDD remission, potentially serving as a mechanism of risk for future depression relapse

Competition effects in visual cortex between emotional distractors and a primary task in remitted depression.

BACKGROUND: Attentional biases, particularly difficulty inhibiting attention to negative stimuli, are implicated in risk for major depressive disorder (MDD). The current study examined a neural measure of attentional bias using a continuous index of visuocortical engagement (steady-state visual evoked potentials) before and after a negative mood induction in a population at high risk for MDD recurrence because of a recently remitted MDD (rMDD) episode. Additionally, we examined working-memory (WM) capacity as a potential moderator of the link between rMDD and visuocortical responses. METHODS: Our sample consisted of 27 women with rMDD and 28 never-depressed women. To assess attentional inhibition to emotional stimuli, we measured frequency-tagged steady-state visual evoked potentials created from spatially superimposed task-relevant stimuli and emotional distractors (facial displays of emotion) oscillating at distinct frequencies. WM capacity was assessed during a visuospatial memory task. RESULTS: Women with rMDD, relative to never-depressed women, displayed difficulty inhibiting attention to all emotional distractors before a negative mood induction, with the strongest effect for negative distractors (sad faces). Following the mood induction, rMDD women’s attention to emotional distractors remained largely unchanged. Among women with rMDD, lower WM capacity predicted greater difficulty inhibiting attention to negative and neutral distractors. CONCLUSIONS: By exploiting the phenomenon of oscillatory resonance in the visual cortex, we tracked competition in neural responses for spatially superimposed stimuli differing in valence. Results demonstrated that women with rMDD display impaired attentional inhibition of emotional distractors independent of state mood and that this bias is strongest among those with lower WM capacity

How often do US-based schizophrenia papers published in high-impact psychiatric journals report on race and ethnicity? : A 20-year update of Lewine and Caudle (1999)

Background Racial and ethnic disparities have been clearly documented in schizophrenia studies, but it is unclear how much research attention they receive among US-based studies published in high-impact journals. Aims The current paper updates Lewine and Caudle’s (1999) and Chakraborty and Steinhauer’s (2010) works, which quantified how frequently schizophrenia studies included information on race and ethnicity in their analyses. Method We examined all US-based papers on schizophrenia-spectrum, first-episode psychosis, and clinical high-risk groups, published between 2014 to 2016 in four major psychiatric journals: American Journal of Psychiatry, Journal of the American Medical Association – Psychiatry, Schizophrenia Bulletin, and Schizophrenia Research. Results Of 474 US-based studies, 62% (n = 295) reported analyses by race or ethnicity as compared to 20% in Lewine and Caudle’s (1999) study. The majority of papers (59%) reported sample descriptions, a 42% increase from Lewine and Caudle’s (1999) study. Additionally, 47% matched or compared the racial/ethnic composition of primary study groups and 12% adjusted for race (e.g., as a covariate). However, only 9% directly analyzed racial and/or ethnic identity in relation to the primary topic of the paper. Conclusions While schizophrenia studies report analyses by race and ethnicity more frequently than 20 years ago, there remains a strong need for systematic, nuanced research on this topic. The authors offer recommendations for how to conceptualize and report upon race and ethnicity in schizophrenia research

Clinical and psychosocial outcomes of Black Americans in the Recovery After an Initial Schizophrenia Episode Early Treatment Program (RAISE-ETP) study

PURPOSE: In the US, Black people diagnosed with schizophrenia experience worse psychosocial and clinical outcomes than their White counterparts. While racism-related factors contribute to these disparities, an additional understudied explanation may be that psychosocial treatments for psychotic disorders are less effective for Black than White individuals. The purpose of this study is to examine the extent to which best treatment practices for first-episode psychosis (FEP) are effective for Black and White participants. METHODS: We conducted a secondary data analysis of the Recovery After an Initial Schizophrenia Episode Early Treatment Program (RAISE-ETP), a two-year multisite trial that compared a coordinated specialty care intervention for FEP (NAVIGATE) to community care as usual (CC) in 34 sites across the US. Specifically, we compared interviewer-rated quality of life and symptoms, as well as self-reported mental health and stigma, between 139 Non-Latinx Black and 172 Non-Latinx White participants with FEP in NAVIGATE and CC. RESULTS: We found few differences between Black and White participants over two-year outcomes, either overall or in terms of benefit from NAVIGATE. Across both treatment conditions, Black participants improved less than White participants on positive symptoms, an effect driven primarily by suspiciousness/persecution. In NAVIGATE, self-reported mental health stigma decreased for both Black and White participants, while in CC stigma decreased for White participants but increased for Black participants. This effect was driven primarily by experienced stigma rather than self-stigma. CONCLUSION: NAVIGATE benefits both Black and White individuals diagnosed with FEP. Mental health stigma and positive symptoms may be particularly important aspects of treatment for Black individuals diagnosed with FEP