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Quirin M, Malekzad F, Jais M, Kehr H, Ennis M. Heart rate variability and psychological health: The key role of trait emotional awareness. Acta Psychol (Amst) 2024; 246:104252. [PMID: 38677024 DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2024.104252] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2023] [Revised: 03/19/2024] [Accepted: 04/08/2024] [Indexed: 04/29/2024] Open
Abstract
Studies have shown that Trait Emotional Awareness (TEA) - the ability to recognize one's emotions - and Heart Rate Variability (HRV) are both negatively associated with psychological disorders. Although these studies imply that TEA is related to HRV and may explain the association between HRV and psychological disorders, there is limited research investigating this implication. Such investigation is essential to illuminate the psychophysiological processes linked to psychological disorders. The present study aims to investigate a) the association between TEA and HRV, b) the association between HRV and psychological disorders, and c) whether TEA explains the association between HRV and psychological disorders. A sample of 41 German students completed self-report questionnaires as indicators of psychological disorders, including the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS; Snaith & Zigmond, 1983) for anxiousness and depressiveness, as well as the somatization scale of the Hopkins Symptom Checklist (HSCL; Derogatis et al., 1976) for physical complaints. HRV was measured at baseline (resting HRV) and during exposure to a fear-provoking movie clip (reactive HRV). As hypothesized, a) TEA showed a positive association with reactive HRV, b) HRV showed negative associations with anxiousness and physical complaints, and c) TEA explained the relationships between reactive HRV and anxiousness, as well as physical complaints. Contrary to our hypothesis, we did not find any association between HRV and depressiveness. We discussed the contribution of TEA to psychophysiological health, limited generalizability of the current study, and direct future research to explore the underlying mechanisms linking TEA to health.
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Affiliation(s)
- Markus Quirin
- Technical University of Munich, Germany; PFH Göttingen, Germany.
| | - Farhood Malekzad
- Technical University of Munich, Germany; PFH Göttingen, Germany.
| | | | - Hugo Kehr
- Technical University of Munich, Germany.
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Cárdenas EF, Hill KE, Estes E, Jackson M, Venanzi L, Humphreys KL, Kujawa A. Neural reactivity to infant emotion cues during pregnancy: Associations with peripartum anxiety and depressive symptoms. Biol Psychol 2023; 183:108673. [PMID: 37690586 PMCID: PMC10591923 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2023.108673] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/01/2022] [Revised: 07/26/2023] [Accepted: 09/04/2023] [Indexed: 09/12/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Pregnancy is marked by physiological and psychosocial changes for women, and event-related potentials (ERP) are comfortable and safe for examining brain function across pregnancy. The late positive potential (LPP) ERP, a measure of allocated attention to emotional stimuli, may provide insight into associations between internalizing symptoms and neural processing of infant emotion cues, which may be particularly salient in this life stage. METHODS We developed a task to examine neural and behavioral responses to infant faces in pregnant women (N = 120, Mage=31.09, SD=4.81), the impact of auditory infant cries on the LPP to faces, and associations between the LPP and anxiety and depressive symptoms. Participants matched distressed, happy, and neutral infant faces and shapes as a comparison condition with interspersed auditory conditions (infant cry sounds vs. white noise) while electroencephalogram data were collected. Participants also completed self-report measures of anxiety and depressive symptoms. RESULTS Reaction time (RT) was faster for the infant cry vs. white noise condition and when matching shapes vs. infant faces. Depressive symptoms were associated with slower RTs to neutral infant faces. The LPP was enhanced overall to faces vs. shapes, but there was no main effect of auditory condition. Anxiety symptoms were associated with an enhanced LPP to infant distressed faces in the infant cry condition. CONCLUSIONS Results support these methods for measuring neural and behavioral responses to infant emotional cues in pregnancy and provide evidence that combinations of auditory and visual stimuli may be particularly useful for capturing emotional processes relevant to anxiety.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emilia F Cárdenas
- Vanderbilt University, 230 Appleton Place, Nashville, TN 37203, USA.
| | - Kaylin E Hill
- Vanderbilt University, 230 Appleton Place, Nashville, TN 37203, USA
| | - Elizabeth Estes
- University of Michigan, 1080 University Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA
| | - Maya Jackson
- Vanderbilt University, 230 Appleton Place, Nashville, TN 37203, USA
| | - Lisa Venanzi
- Vanderbilt University, 230 Appleton Place, Nashville, TN 37203, USA
| | | | - Autumn Kujawa
- Vanderbilt University, 230 Appleton Place, Nashville, TN 37203, USA
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Ruchensky JR, Bauer EA, Edens JF, MacNamara A. Triarchic psychopathy and affective picture processing: An event-related potential study. Biol Psychol 2023; 182:108628. [PMID: 37429538 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2023.108628] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2022] [Revised: 04/29/2023] [Accepted: 07/05/2023] [Indexed: 07/12/2023]
Abstract
Psychopathy and its precursors appear to be associated with abnormal affective response. For example, individuals high in psychopathy show reduced psychophysiological response to unpleasant stimuli, which might explain low levels of empathy in psychopathic individuals, and their pursuit of individual goals without regard for others' wellbeing. In keeping with the notion that psychopathology is best represented on a continuum, the triarchic model suggests that psychopathy is characterized by elevations on three traits: boldness, meanness and disinhibition. Understanding how these traits relate to psychophysiological response to emotional stimuli would help validate the triarchic model, while also bridging to other psychopathological spectra (e.g., internalizing psychopathology, which is characterized by low boldness). Here, N = 123 young adults passively viewed unpleasant, pleasant and neutral pictures while subjective and electrocortical response were recorded. Controlling for the other triarchic traits, individuals with higher self-reported meanness had smaller late positive potentials (LPPs) to both pleasant and unpleasant pictures, whereas individuals higher in boldness had larger LPPs to unpleasant pictures. In addition, those higher in meanness rated unpleasant pictures as more pleasant and less emotionally arousing. Disinhibition was not associated with the LPP or ratings. Meanness appears to drive blunted response to unpleasant pictures that has previously been observed among those high on psychopathy, and may also be associated with reduced engagement with generic pleasant stimuli. Moreover, results converge with prior work on other traits of transdiagnostic relevance (e.g., extraversion), as well as internalizing symptoms, providing a bridge between psychopathy and other forms of psychopathology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jared R Ruchensky
- Department of Psychology & Philosophy, Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, TX, USA.
| | - Elizabeth A Bauer
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA
| | - John F Edens
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA
| | - Annmarie MacNamara
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA
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Bauer EA, Wilson KA, Phan KL, Shankman SA, MacNamara A. A Neurobiological Profile Underlying Comorbidity Load and Prospective Increases in Dysphoria in a Focal Fear Sample. Biol Psychiatry 2023; 93:352-361. [PMID: 36280453 PMCID: PMC10866641 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2022.08.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2022] [Revised: 08/09/2022] [Accepted: 08/10/2022] [Indexed: 01/21/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Knowledge of the neural mechanisms underlying increased disease burden in anxiety disorders that is unaccounted for by individual categorical diagnoses could lead to improved clinical care. Here, we tested the utility of a joint functional magnetic resonance imaging-electroencephalography neurobiological profile characterized by overvaluation of negative stimuli (amygdala) in combination with blunted elaborated processing of these same stimuli (the late positive potential [LPP], an event-related potential) in predicting increased psychopathology across a 2-year period in people with anxiety disorders. METHODS One hundred ten participants (64 female, 45 male, 1 other) including 78 participants with phobias who varied in the extent of their internalizing comorbidity and 32 participants who were free from psychopathology viewed negative and neutral pictures during separate functional magnetic resonance imaging blood oxygen level-dependent and electroencephalogram recordings. Dysphoria was assessed at baseline and 2 years later. RESULTS Participants with both heightened amygdala activation and blunted LPPs to negative pictures showed the greatest increases in dysphoria 2 years later. Cross-sectionally, participants with higher comorbidity load (≥2 additional diagnoses, n = 34) showed increased amygdala activation to negative pictures compared with participants with lower comorbidity load (≤1 additional diagnosis, n = 44) and compared with participants free from psychopathology. In addition, high comorbid participants showed reduced LPPs to negative pictures compared with low comorbid participants. CONCLUSIONS Heightened amygdala in response to negative stimuli in combination with blunted LPPs could indicate overvaluation of threatening stimuli in the absence of elaborated processing that might otherwise help regulate threat responding. This brain profile could underlie the worsening and maintenance of internalizing psychopathology over time.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elizabeth A Bauer
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas.
| | - Kayla A Wilson
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas
| | - K Luan Phan
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio
| | - Stewart A Shankman
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois
| | - Annmarie MacNamara
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas
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Zhang WW, Chen T, Li SY, Wang XY, Liu WB, Wang YQ, Mi WL, Mao-Ying QL, Wang YQ, Chu YX. Tachykinin receptor 3 in the lateral habenula alleviates pain and anxiety comorbidity in mice. Front Immunol 2023; 14:1049739. [PMID: 36756128 PMCID: PMC9900122 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1049739] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/21/2022] [Accepted: 01/09/2023] [Indexed: 01/24/2023] Open
Abstract
The coexistence of chronic pain and anxiety is a common clinical phenomenon. Here, the role of tachykinin receptor 3 (NK3R) in the lateral habenula (LHb) in trigeminal neuralgia and in pain-associated anxiety was systematically investigated. First, electrophysiological recording showed that bilateral LHb neurons are hyperactive in a mouse model of trigeminal neuralgia made by partial transection of the infraorbital nerve (pT-ION). Chemicogenetic activation of bilateral LHb glutamatergic neurons in naive mice induced orofacial allodynia and anxiety-like behaviors, and pharmacological activation of NK3R in the LHb attenuated allodynia and anxiety-like behaviors induced by pT-ION. Electrophysiological recording showed that pharmacological activation of NK3R suppressed the abnormal excitation of LHb neurons. In parallel, pharmacological inhibition of NK3R induced orofacial allodynia and anxiety-like behavior in naive mice. The electrophysiological recording showed that pharmacological inhibition of NK3R activates LHb neurons. Neurokinin B (NKB) is an endogenous high-affinity ligand of NK3R, which binds NK3R and activates it to perform physiological functions, and further neuron projection tracing showed that the front section of the periaqueductal gray (fPAG) projects NKB-positive nerve fibers to the LHb. Optogenetics combined with electrophysiology recordings characterize the functional connections in this fPAG NKB → LHb pathway. In addition, electrophysiological recording showed that NKB-positive neurons in the fPAG were more active than NKB-negative neurons in pT-ION mice. Finally, inhibition of NKB release from the fPAG reversed the analgesic and anxiolytic effects of LHb Tacr3 overexpression in pT-ION mice, indicating that fPAG NKB → LHb regulates orofacial allodynia and pain-induced anxious behaviors. These findings for NK3R suggest the cellular mechanism behind pT-ION in the LHb and suggest that the fPAG NKB → LHb circuit is involved in pain and anxiety comorbidity. This previously unrecognized pathway might provide a potential approach for relieving the pain and anxiety associated with trigeminal neuralgia by targeting NK3R.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wen-Wen Zhang
- Department of Integrative Medicine and Neurobiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Shanghai Medical College, Institutes of Integrative Medicine, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Teng Chen
- Department of Integrative Medicine and Neurobiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Shanghai Medical College, Institutes of Integrative Medicine, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Shi-Yi Li
- Department of Integrative Medicine and Neurobiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Shanghai Medical College, Institutes of Integrative Medicine, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Xin-Yue Wang
- Department of Integrative Medicine and Neurobiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Shanghai Medical College, Institutes of Integrative Medicine, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Wen-Bo Liu
- Department of Integrative Medicine and Neurobiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Shanghai Medical College, Institutes of Integrative Medicine, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Yu-Quan Wang
- Department of Integrative Medicine and Neurobiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Shanghai Medical College, Institutes of Integrative Medicine, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Wen-Li Mi
- Department of Integrative Medicine and Neurobiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Shanghai Medical College, Institutes of Integrative Medicine, Fudan University, Shanghai, China,Shanghai Key Laboratory of Acupuncture Mechanism and Acupoint Function, Institute of Acupuncture Research, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Qi-Liang Mao-Ying
- Department of Integrative Medicine and Neurobiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Shanghai Medical College, Institutes of Integrative Medicine, Fudan University, Shanghai, China,Shanghai Key Laboratory of Acupuncture Mechanism and Acupoint Function, Institute of Acupuncture Research, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Yan-Qing Wang
- Department of Integrative Medicine and Neurobiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Shanghai Medical College, Institutes of Integrative Medicine, Fudan University, Shanghai, China,Shanghai Key Laboratory of Acupuncture Mechanism and Acupoint Function, Institute of Acupuncture Research, Fudan University, Shanghai, China,State Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology and MOE Frontiers Center for Brain Science, Institutes of Brain Science, Fudan University, Shanghai, China,*Correspondence: Yu-Xia Chu, ; Yan-Qing Wang,
| | - Yu-Xia Chu
- Department of Integrative Medicine and Neurobiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Shanghai Medical College, Institutes of Integrative Medicine, Fudan University, Shanghai, China,Shanghai Key Laboratory of Acupuncture Mechanism and Acupoint Function, Institute of Acupuncture Research, Fudan University, Shanghai, China,*Correspondence: Yu-Xia Chu, ; Yan-Qing Wang,
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Zhong R, Li Z, Chen Q, Zhang H, Zhang X, Lin W. Effects of insomnia and levels of depression and anxiety symptoms on quality of life in people with epilepsy. BMC Psychiatry 2022; 22:497. [PMID: 35879686 PMCID: PMC9317410 DOI: 10.1186/s12888-022-04154-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/31/2022] [Accepted: 07/18/2022] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVES The association between insomnia and quality of life (QOL) in epilepsy is poorly understood and may involve interactive variables. We aimed to investigate whether and how insomnia, levels of depression and anxiety symptoms interact to influence QOL in people with epilepsy (PWE). METHODS A consecutive cohort of 179 PWE was enrolled. We collected data on insomnia, levels of depression and anxiety symptoms, and QOL. The Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), Depression Inventory for Epilepsy (NDDI-E), Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7), and QOL in Epilepsy Inventory (QOLIE-31) were used. The direct, indirect, and total effects of insomnia on QOL were estimated based on a moderated mediation model. RESULTS Depression symptom levels mediated the association between insomnia and QOL (B = 0.09 SE = 0.03, p = 0.01). Depression symptom levels accounted for 34.7% of the total effect of insomnia on QOL. The mediating effect of depression symptom levels was positively moderated by anxiety symptom levels (B = 0.09, SE = 0.03, p = 0.01). CONCLUSION The effect of insomnia on QOL can be partially explained by the mediation of depression symptom levels. Additionally, improving anxiety symptoms may attenuate the indirect effect of insomnia on QOL through depression symptom levels.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rui Zhong
- grid.430605.40000 0004 1758 4110Department of Neurology, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, China
| | - Zhuan Li
- Department of Emergency, Linyi Central Hospital, Linyi, China
| | - Qingling Chen
- grid.265021.20000 0000 9792 1228Department of Hepatology, Second People’s Clinical College of Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, China
| | - Hanyu Zhang
- grid.430605.40000 0004 1758 4110Department of Neurology, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, China
| | - Xinyue Zhang
- grid.430605.40000 0004 1758 4110Department of Neurology, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, China
| | - Weihong Lin
- Department of Neurology, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, China.
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