Parasympathetic nervous system activity predicts mood repair use and its effectiveness among adolescents with and without histories of major depression.

Abstract

Depressive disorders that onset in the juvenile years have been linked to far reaching adverse consequences, making it imperative to elucidate key mechanisms and contributory factors. Excessive use of regulatory responses that exacerbate sadness (maladaptive mood repair) or insufficient use of regulatory responses that reduce it (adaptive mood repair) may reflect behavioral mechanisms of depression risk. Cardiac vagal control, indexed by patterns of respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), has received attention as a putative physiological risk factor for depression. Although mood repair and RSA are related, the nature of this relationship is not well characterized in the context of depression risk. Therefore, we tested alternative models of the relationships between RSA patterns (at rest and in response to a sad film), trait mood repair, and the effectiveness of a mood repair response in the laboratory (state mood repair) among adolescents with depression histories (n=210) and emotionally healthy peers (n=161). In our data, a mediation model best explained the association between the key constructs: Adolescents with normative RSA patterns exhibited lower levels of depression and trait maladaptive mood repair, and benefited more from instructed (state) mood repair in the laboratory. By contrast, adolescents with atypical RSA patterns exhibited higher levels of depression and dispositional maladaptive mood repair, which, in turn, mediated the relations of RSA patterns and depression symptoms. Atypical RSA patterns also predicted reduced benefits from laboratory mood repair.

Atypical patterns of respiratory sinus arrhythmia index an endophenotype for depression

“…Likewise, Cribbett, Williams, Gunn, and Rau (2011) noted the incremental utility of combining RSA indices to predict adjustment during emotional stress. We have also found that patterns of RSA activity incrementally predict mental health outcomes, relative to single RSA indices (Yaroslavsky, Rottenberg, & Kovacs, 2013; Yaroslavsky et al, 2014). …”

Perseverate or decenter? Differential effects of metacognition on the relationship between parasympathetic inflexibility and symptoms of depression in a multi-wave study

“…When combined with a lack of parasympathetic flexibility in response to a sad film, which may represent difficulty appropriately engaging with relevant stimuli, individuals may have a “double load” of difficulty adapting to situational demands. This physiological and cognitive burden could interfere with effective self-regulation (e.g., Yaroslavsky et al, 2016) and make them more susceptible to experiencing symptoms of depression when adaptation becomes necessary. Although the study did not evaluate neural networks, it is possible that difficulty with flexibly disengaging from self-referential thinking and attending to task-relevant stimuli are driven in part by dysfunctional activity within the default mode network.…”

Juvenile onset depression alters cardiac autonomic balance in response to psychological and physical challenges

“…These patterns are postulated to relate to poorer self regulation. Elsewhere, we have found that atypical patterns of resting RSA and RSA reactivity in youths with a history of juvenile onset depressed predicted deficits in mood repair, where mood repair refers to behaviors that decrease feelings of sadness or dysphoria (e.g., Josephson, Singer, & Salovey, 1996), as assessed by both trait measures and laboratory probes (Yaroslavsky et al, 2015). .).…”