Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder: The relationship between cardiac vagal tone, emotion regulation and recognition

Abstract

Children with Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD) have difficulties with emotion regulation and recognition which impacts their social functioning. Due to its recent definition, there is limited information on the neural mechanisms of this disorder. This exploratory study examined the role of autonomic heart regulation in children with DMDD, motivated by suggestions of reduced autonomic regulation (as indicated by heart rate variability) associated with psychiatric disorders in adults and children The cross-sectional design sampled two groups of children, one with DMDD (n = 15; 28 male) and the other with typical development (n = 15; 28 male. Heart rate variability, facial emotion recognition accuracy and speed, and prosody were measured. There were no significant differences in heart rate variability between the two groups prior to, or during, the tasks, however children with DMDD experienced significantly more difficulty recognising the fear in faces compared to controls and confused other negatively valenced emotions. There was also a significant, negative correlation between heart rate variability and prosody modulation in the control group, a relationship that was absent in the DMDD group. These results suggest that atypical autonomic regulation during emotionally evocative situations and facial emotion recognition may contribute to the difficulties experienced by children with DMDD