Increased neural response to social rejection in major depression

Poornima Kumar; Gordon D Waiter; Magda Dubois; Maarten Milders; Ian Reid; J. Douglas Steele

doi:10.1002/da.22665

Increased neural response to social rejection in major depression

Poornima Kumar (Corresponding Author), Gordon D Waiter, Magda Dubois, Maarten Milders, Ian Reid, J. Douglas Steele

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

62 Citations (Scopus)

15 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Background
Being a part of community is critical for survival and individuals with major depressive disorder (MDD) have a greater sensitivity to interpersonal stress that makes them vulnerable to future episodes. Social rejection is a critical risk factor for depression and it is said to increase interpersonal stress and thereby impairing social functioning. It is therefore critical to understand the neural correlates of social rejection in MDD.
Methods
To this end, we scanned 15 medicated MDD and 17 healthy individuals during a modified cyberball passing game, where participants were exposed to increasing levels of social exclusion. Neural responses to increasing social exclusion were investigated and compared between groups.
Results
We showed that compared to controls, MDD individuals exhibited greater amygdala, insula, and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex activation to increasing social exclusion and this correlated negatively with hedonic tone and self-esteem scores across all participants.
Conclusions
These preliminary results support the hypothesis that depression is associated with hyperactive response to social rejection. These findings highlight the importance of studying social interactions in depression, as they often lead to social withdrawal and isolation.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1049-1056
Number of pages	8
Journal	Depression and Anxiety
Volume	34
Issue number	11
Early online date	20 Jun 2017
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1002/da.22665
Publication status	Published - Nov 2017

Keywords

amygdala
cyberball
insula
self-esteem
social exclusion

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1002/da.22665Licence: Unspecified

Accepted Manuscript
This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Kumar P, Waiter GD, Dubois M, Milders M, Reid I, Steele JD. Increased neural response to social rejection in major depression. Depress Anxiety. 2017;34:1049–1056., which has been published in final form at DOI: 10.1002/da.22665. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.
Accepted author manuscript, 1.42 MBLicence: Unspecified

Gordon Waiter
Person: Academic

Cite this

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title = "Increased neural response to social rejection in major depression",

abstract = "BackgroundBeing a part of community is critical for survival and individuals with major depressive disorder (MDD) have a greater sensitivity to interpersonal stress that makes them vulnerable to future episodes. Social rejection is a critical risk factor for depression and it is said to increase interpersonal stress and thereby impairing social functioning. It is therefore critical to understand the neural correlates of social rejection in MDD.MethodsTo this end, we scanned 15 medicated MDD and 17 healthy individuals during a modified cyberball passing game, where participants were exposed to increasing levels of social exclusion. Neural responses to increasing social exclusion were investigated and compared between groups.ResultsWe showed that compared to controls, MDD individuals exhibited greater amygdala, insula, and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex activation to increasing social exclusion and this correlated negatively with hedonic tone and self-esteem scores across all participants.ConclusionsThese preliminary results support the hypothesis that depression is associated with hyperactive response to social rejection. These findings highlight the importance of studying social interactions in depression, as they often lead to social withdrawal and isolation.",

keywords = "amygdala, cyberball, insula, self-esteem, social exclusion",

author = "Poornima Kumar and Waiter, {Gordon D} and Magda Dubois and Maarten Milders and Ian Reid and Steele, {J. Douglas}",

year = "2017",

month = nov,

doi = "10.1002/da.22665",

language = "English",

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pages = "1049--1056",

journal = "Depression and Anxiety",

issn = "1091-4269",

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T1 - Increased neural response to social rejection in major depression

AU - Kumar, Poornima

AU - Waiter, Gordon D

AU - Dubois, Magda

AU - Milders, Maarten

AU - Reid, Ian

AU - Steele, J. Douglas

PY - 2017/11

Y1 - 2017/11

N2 - BackgroundBeing a part of community is critical for survival and individuals with major depressive disorder (MDD) have a greater sensitivity to interpersonal stress that makes them vulnerable to future episodes. Social rejection is a critical risk factor for depression and it is said to increase interpersonal stress and thereby impairing social functioning. It is therefore critical to understand the neural correlates of social rejection in MDD.MethodsTo this end, we scanned 15 medicated MDD and 17 healthy individuals during a modified cyberball passing game, where participants were exposed to increasing levels of social exclusion. Neural responses to increasing social exclusion were investigated and compared between groups.ResultsWe showed that compared to controls, MDD individuals exhibited greater amygdala, insula, and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex activation to increasing social exclusion and this correlated negatively with hedonic tone and self-esteem scores across all participants.ConclusionsThese preliminary results support the hypothesis that depression is associated with hyperactive response to social rejection. These findings highlight the importance of studying social interactions in depression, as they often lead to social withdrawal and isolation.

AB - BackgroundBeing a part of community is critical for survival and individuals with major depressive disorder (MDD) have a greater sensitivity to interpersonal stress that makes them vulnerable to future episodes. Social rejection is a critical risk factor for depression and it is said to increase interpersonal stress and thereby impairing social functioning. It is therefore critical to understand the neural correlates of social rejection in MDD.MethodsTo this end, we scanned 15 medicated MDD and 17 healthy individuals during a modified cyberball passing game, where participants were exposed to increasing levels of social exclusion. Neural responses to increasing social exclusion were investigated and compared between groups.ResultsWe showed that compared to controls, MDD individuals exhibited greater amygdala, insula, and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex activation to increasing social exclusion and this correlated negatively with hedonic tone and self-esteem scores across all participants.ConclusionsThese preliminary results support the hypothesis that depression is associated with hyperactive response to social rejection. These findings highlight the importance of studying social interactions in depression, as they often lead to social withdrawal and isolation.

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KW - cyberball

KW - insula

KW - self-esteem

KW - social exclusion

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M3 - Article

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SP - 1049

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JO - Depression and Anxiety

JF - Depression and Anxiety

IS - 11

ER -

Increased neural response to social rejection in major depression

Abstract

Keywords

UN SDGs

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Gordon Waiter

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