Neuromagnetic Indication of Dysfunctional Emotion Regulation in Affective Disorders
Authors: Pietrek C, Popov T, Steffen A, Miller G, Rockstroh B
Year: 2012
Source: Depression Research and Treatment 2012:11 pages.
Abstract: Dysfunctional emotion regulation is often reported in affective disorders, but it is unclear whether this dysfunction concerns initial processing of emotional input or regulation of resulting emotion. The present study addressed these aspects in 27 depressive and 15 borderline personality disorder patients and 28 healthy controls who were instructed to either passively view unpleasant and neutral pictures or downregulate emotional responses by reappraisal, while neuromagnetic brain activity was measured. All three groups showed more early response to unpleasant than to neutral pictures, whereas patients failed to show subsequent activity suppression under instructions to down-regulate. This deficient emotion regulation was evident primarily in those subjects reporting high childhood adversity. Results support intact emotional input processing but impaired emotion regulation in affective disorders and indicate a moderating influence of early life stress. Abstract originally from the Hindawi Publishing Corporation. Reprinted with permission under a Creative Commons Attribution license.
Institution: christian.pietrek@uni-konstanz.de. Department of Psychology, Zukunftskolleg, University of Konstanz, 78457 Konstanz
Language: English
Subject headings: Depression, Emotional disorders
Geographic areas: Europe, Germany