Introduction: Processing of emotional stimuli is altered in patients with depression. The present feasibility study investigated the features of emotional information recognition in people with depressive disorders and how these differ from individuals without depression to determine whether response times could potentially be used as a diagnostic marker to identify individuals at high risk of depression and as an indicator of antidepressant medication response. Methods: The study recruited 32 individuals, 16 with single or recurrent depressive episodes and 16 control subjects without depression. Patients with depression received 8 weeks of antidepressant therapy. The severity of depressive symptoms at baseline and their changes on prescribed therapy were assessed using the Montgomery-Å sberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS). The processing of emotional information was assessed using the computerized Penn Emotion Recognition Task (ER-40). Results: The two groups were well matched in terms of age and gender. There was no difference between the groups in their ability to correctly recognize happy or sad emotional facial expressions, but the average time patients with depression took to recognize a happy face was significantly longer than controls. In addition, they were more likely to misinterpret facial expressions as non-emotional. In patients with depression, the mean MADRS total score decreased from 26.3 ± 4.4 at baseline to 11.1 ± 8.9 at 8 weeks, a reduction of 57.8%. The proportion of responders with greater than 50% reduction in their baseline MADRS total score was 64.3%. Antidepressive treatment was associated with a reduction in the mean time required for recognition of a happy face (P \ 0.05). Conclusions: Patients with depression are slower to identify positive emotions but have a similar time to recognition of negative emotions as patients without depression. The greater time required for recognition of happiness distinguished the patients with depression from control subjects, and was also the only parameter that showed an improvement with antidepressant therapy, suggesting a specific relationship of this parameter with the depressive state.
Background: The present study evaluated the cortical activation during emotional information recognition. Methods: The study group included 16 patients with depression, and 16 healthy subjects were enrolled as a control group. Patients received eight weeks of antidepressant therapy. Functional MRI evaluated the cortical activation twice in the patient group and once in the control group. The fMRI task processed the emotional information with face demonstration from the PennCNP test battery. Results: During the processing of emotional information, patients showed activation in the middle and the inferior frontal gyri, the fusiform gyrus, and the occipital cortex. After treatment, patients showed a significant decrease in the frontal cortex activation for negative face demonstration and no frontal activation for positive emotion recognition. The left superior temporal gyrus activation zone appeared in patients after treatment and in the control group. Healthy subjects showed more intense frontal cortex activation when processing neutral emotions and less when showing happy and sad faces. Activation zones in the amygdala and the insula and deactivation zones in the posterior cingulate cortex were revealed in the controls. Conclusion: This study confirms the hypothesis that anomalies in the processing of emotional stimuli can be a sign of a depressive disorder.
Functional movement disorders (FMD) are widespread and have a significant negative impact on the quality of life of patients. The pathogenesis is not completely clear, but currently there is ongoing research on searching for biological markers using methods such as functional magnetic resonance imaging and electroencephalography (EEG). Objective: detection of the features of the amplitude-frequency characteristics of the readiness potential (RP) formed during FMD. Material and methods. We examined 22 patients with a clinically diagnosed FMD and 22 healthy volunteers (all participants were right-handed). Both patients and the control group underwent an EEG in Erickson's Flanker paradigm with registration of the RP. RP was recorded in the projection area of the precentral gyrus (electrodes C3/C4/C5/C6 in the standard 10–20 overlay scheme). Results. Comparative analysis of RP parameters showed the presence of significant frequency-amplitude differences between the main group and the control group in the right hemisphere in the absence of significant differences in the left hemisphere. At the same time, significant differences were demonstrated between the FMR group and the control group both in terms of the latent period (time to the onset of RP): 33.66±23.69 ms versus 276.28±176.1 ms (p<0.05), and its amplitude: -0.85±0.294 μV versus -0.35±0.26 μV (p<0.05). Conclusion. The results of the present study suggest that neurophysiological parameters such as RP can be considered as a potential diagnostic marker to improve the diagnosis of FMR.
Patients with post-acute sequelae after coronavirus disease (COVID-19) report a variety of non-specific neurological complications (e.g., myoclonus, limb weakness). In particular, they manifest scenarios as medically unexplained symptoms and are known as functional movement disorders (FMDs). We present three cases of FMDs in patients of the Institute of Clinical Medicine named after N. V. Sklifosovsky (Sechenov University). All patients had a history of COVID-19 infection and reported fatigue, weakness, and jerks of upper and lower limbs. In conclusion, there might be a major possibility of the virus negatively affecting the central nervous system, including such rare neuropsychiatric complications.
We present a description of a functional writer's cramp case. The disease manifested as pain and tension in the right hand when writing; thus, we suspected kinesigenic dystonia in the form of writer's cramp. However, the motor pattern and the presence of additional manifestations made it possible to assume the neurotic nature of hyperkinesis. A psychiatrist diagnosed a combined conversion motor and undifferentiated somatoform disorder as a part of personality dynamics of the dramatic cluster at the involutionary age. Treatment included cognitive-behavioral therapy and periciazine administration with a positive effect. We discuss the aspects of hyperkinesis and mental status, which help differentiate the kinesigenic form of dystonia (writer's cramp) and functional movement disorder.
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