Recalling happy memories in remitted depression: A neuroimaging investigation of the repair of sad mood

Abstract

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a recurrent mood disorder. The high rate of recurrence of MDD suggests the presence of stable vulnerability factors that place individuals with a history of major depression at an increased risk for the onset of another episode. Previous research has linked the remitted state, and therefore increased vulnerability for depressive relapse, with difficulties in the use of pleasant autobiographical memories to repair sad mood. In the present study, we examined the neural correlates of these difficulties. Groups of 16 currently euthymic, remitted depressed individuals and 16 healthy (control) women underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during sad mood induction and during recovery from a sad mood state through recall of mood-incongruent positive autobiographical memories. Sad mood was induced in participants by using film clips; participants then recalled positive autobiographical memories, a procedure previously shown to repair negative affect. During both the sad mood induction and automatic mood regulation, control participants exhibited activation in the left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (vlPFC) and cuneus; in contrast, remitted participants exhibited a decrease in activation in these regions. Furthermore, exploratory analyses revealed that reduced activation levels during mood regulation predicted a worsening of depressive symptoms at a 20-month follow-up assessment. These findings highlight a dynamic role of the vlPFC and cuneus in the experience and modulation of emotional states and suggest that functional anomalies of these brain regions are associated with a history of, and vulnerability to, depression.

Self-blame–Selective Hyperconnectivity Between Anterior Temporal and Subgenual Cortices and Prediction of Recurrent Depressive Episodes

“…34 Two previous pilot studies 35,36 comparing recurring episode patients (N = 10 and N = 7, respectively) and stable remission patients (N = 6 and N = 11, respectively), however, found lower 36 and higher 35 BOLD effects in medial frontal areas to be predictive of subsequent recurrence. Another study 37 found lower ventrolateral frontal BOLD to correlate with subsequent worsening on the BDI. Although interesting, difficulties in adequately controlling for confounding effects of antidepressant medication status 36,37 and randomization to different treatments, 35 together with small sample sizes, may limit the generalizability of these findings.…”

Altered ability to access a clinically relevant control network in patients remitted from major depressive disorder

“…However, these studies included acute MDD patients and did not use a mood‐induction procedure, which makes it difficult to compare results. In remitted‐MDD, Foland‐Ross, Cooney, Joormann, Henry, & Gotlib, found that during both a sad mood induction and automatic mood regulation by positive autobiographical recall, remitted participants exhibited a decrease in activation in the left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex and cuneus, which are both involved in autobiographical memory processing (Foland‐Ross et al, ). However, since this study examined brain activation this is also challenging to compare.…”

Aberrant functional connectivity of the hippocampus in older adults with subthreshold depression

“…Other studies have reported structural and functional reduction of the cuneus in individuals with MDD, in accordance with our results. Compared with healthy controls, individuals with MDD showed reduced gray matter volume (Grieve, Korgaonkar, Koslow, Gordon, & Williams, ), decreased activation during emotion processing (Fu et al., ) and memory recall (Foland‐Ross, Cooney, Joormann, Henry, & Gotlib, ; Young et al., ), and rumination (Cooney, Joormann, Eugène, Dennis, & Gotlib, ). The discrepancy between these results may be due to the different clinical characteristics of participants.…”