Negative Emotion Accumulation and Personal Motivation

Understanding how emotions stemming from negative outcomes affect investment decisions is critical for studying choice under uncertainty. I build a framework to study how past and anticipated negative emotions interact with an agent’s preference and environment to influence her investment level. I show that the dynamic effect of emotions on decisions is more complicated than previously thought and requires a careful analysis of the decision environment to build correct predictions. Using baseball data, I show how to use the theoretical framework empirically to investigate the dynamic impact of emotion and find that it leads to suboptimal pitch velocity decisions

Anxiety and depression mediate the relationship between self-disgust and insomnia disorder

Objectives: There is limited research on the association between insomnia and negative self-conscious emotions. This study assessed if individuals with insomnia reported higher scores in self-disgust than normal sleepers, and if the association between insomnia and self-disgust was mediated by depression and anxiety. Methods: Twenty seven individuals with DSM-5 Insomnia Disorder and 30 normal sleepers completed self-reported measures of self-disgust, anxiety and depression. Results: Individuals with insomnia reported significantly higher scores in self-disgust, anxiety and depression than normal sleepers. Insomnia significantly predicted self-disgust, but this association was mediated by anxiety and depression. Conclusions: This is the first study that demonstrated the association between clinically diagnosed insomnia in young adults and self-disgust, and highlighted the mediating effects of anxiety and depression. Keywords

CITALOPRAM MAY REDUCE SYMPATHOADRENAL HYPERACTIVITY IN ELDERLY DEPRESSED PATIENTS: AN OPEN MULTICENTER STUDY IN BELGIUM AND LUXEMBOURG

Introduction: Through effects of catecholamines upon the heart, blood vessels and platelets, sympathoadrenal hyperactivity contributes to the development of cardiovascular diseases in elderly depressed patients. To assess the cardiovascular effect of Citalopram in elderly depressed patients, data from an open multicenter study in Belgium and Luxembourg, in which a total of 811 patients were evaluated, was retrospectively analysed. Although the aim of the study was to assess the efficacy and safety of Citalopram, blood pressure and heart rate were also monitored. Subject and methods: Patients included in the study were referred either by psychiatrists, geriatricians or general practitioners. Clinical assessment included ratings on the Hamilton Rating Depression Scale, the Clinical Global Impression Scale, the UKU Side effect rating scale and the assessment of side effects spontaneously reported. Results: With few side effects, Citalopram significantly improves the clinical condition of elderly patients suffering from depressive symptoms. A series of repeated multivariate analyses of covariance were performed on heart rate and blood pressure controlling for the effect of age. Interestingly, a sustained decrease of these parameters was shown during the whole study period reaching significance for systolic blood pressure (p<0.05). These effects were observed both in responding as well as non-responding patients, and were somewhat more marked in responders for heart rate (p=0.058). Conclusion: The slight but significant decrease in systolic blood pressure and heart rate suggests that citalopram may reduce sympathoadrenal hyperactivity and the related increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality associated with depression

Baseline depression levels do not affect efficacy of cognitive-behavioral self-help treatment for insomnia

Background Cognitive-behavioral therapy can effectively treat insomnia (CBT-I). Randomized controlled trials have shown efficacy of self-help CBT-I, but unclear is whether excluding depressive patients boosted treatment effects. Method We administered unsupported self-help CBT-I to insomnia patients with low and high depression levels. Based on the validated Centre of Epidemiological Studies-Depression (CES-D) scale, the internet-recruited sample (N = 479) was divided into three groups: low depression scores (n = 198), mild depression scores (n = 182), and high depression scores (n = 99). Follow-ups were 4 and 18 weeks after completion of the treatment. Results At 4-week follow-up, all groups had a similar amelioration on the primary sleep measures (d = 0.1-0.7; P < 0.05) and the secondary insomnia ratings (d = 1.2; P < 0.001). The only difference was that the high/mild depression groups had a steeper reduction in depression (d = 1.0-1.1; P < 0.001) and anxiety scores (d = 0.7-0.8; P < 0.001) than the low depression group (depression and anxiety: d = 0.3; P < 0.01), possibly due to floor effects in the latter group. The observed effects were sustained at the 18-week follow-up. Conclusions This study showed that CBT-I is effective regardless of baseline depression levels. Treating the combination of insomnia and depression is an extra challenge since it is associated with increased sleep problems. These data may help us understand the relationship between insomnia and depression and indicate that self-help CBT-I may be a promising addition to regular depression treatment. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc

Anxiety and depression mediate the relationship between insomnia symptoms and the personality traits of conscientiousness and emotional stability

This study examined the relationship between the Big Five personality traits and insomnia symptoms in the general population. Additionally, the mediating role of anxiety and depression was examined. Participants (N=625) completed online measures of the big five personality traits and insomnia severity. Insomnia symptoms were independently related to extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability, anxiety and depression in univariate analysis. Linear regression determined conscientiousness and emotional stability to be the only traits predicting insomnia symptoms. However, these relationships were at least partially mediated by anxiety and depression. Whilst reduced levels of conscientiousness and emotional stability has previously associated with poor sleep and insomnia, the current outcomes shed light on the mechanisms which serve to mediate this relationship