Is the relationship between affective temperament and resilience different in depression cases with and without childhood trauma?

Association between childhood maltreatment and social functioning in individuals with affective disorders: A systematic review and meta-analysis

OBJECTIVE

Childhood maltreatment has been linked to impairments in social functioning and social cognition in adults with affective disorders. However, conclusions have been limited by inconsistent findings across different maltreatment subtypes and social domains. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to quantify associations between childhood maltreatment (overall and subtypes - physical, emotional and/or sexual abuse, and/or physical and/or emotional neglect) and different domains of social functioning and social cognition in adults with affective disorders (bipolar disorder or major depressive disorder). We also examined effect moderators and mediators of these associations.

METHODS

A systematic search was performed on 12.12.2022 which identified 29 studies included in qualitative synthesis (n = 3022 individuals with affective disorders), of which 27 (n = 2957) were pooled in meta-analyses. Across studies, five social functioning and five social cognition domains were examined, of which four domains of social functioning and two domains of social cognition had sufficient data for meta-analysis (PROSPERO CRD42022288976).

RESULTS

Social functioning: childhood maltreatment was associated with lower global social functioning (r = -0.11 to -0.20), poorer interpersonal relations (r = -0.18 to -0.33), and with aggressive behaviour (r = 0.20-0.29) but was unrelated to vocational functioning. Emotional abuse and emotional neglect showed the largest magnitudes of effect. Social cognition: there was no meta-analytic evidence of associations between maltreatment and social cognition domains. Exploratory moderation analyses did not identify any consistent moderators. Narrative synthesis identified attachment style as possible moderator, and sensory patterns, anxiety, and depressive symptoms as possible mediators between childhood maltreatment and social outcomes. Overall, the available evidence was limited, particularly in relation to social cognition.

CONCLUSIONS

Adults with affective disorders are at risk of social functioning difficulties after childhood maltreatment exposure, an effect observed across multiple maltreatment subtypes, social functioning domains, and diagnoses. Addressing social functioning problems may benefit maltreated adults with both bipolar disorder and major depressive disorder.

The association between affective temperaments and depressive symptoms in a population of medical university students, Poland

Background

Compared to their peers, medical students are more exposed to stress, and many present symptoms of depression, making them a group prone to experiencing mental illnesses.

Objective

This study investigates a potential link between the occurrence of symptoms of depression and the dominating type of affective temperament in young people studying at a medical university.

Methods

One hundred thirty-four medical students were surveyed using two validated questionnaires; the Polish versions of Beck's Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) and the Temperament Evaluation of the Memphis, Pisa, and San Diego Autoquestionnaire (TEMPS-A).

Results

The data analysis revealed a significant link between symptoms of depression and affective temperaments, most significantly in subjects with an anxious temperament.

Conclusion

This study confirms the role of various affective temperaments as a risk factor for mood disorders, specifically depression.

Are Affective Temperaments, Emotional Abuse, and Neglect Involved in Mentalization Abilities in Patients With Psychiatric Disorders?

Patients who have experienced emotional abuse and neglect often develop psychiatric disorders in adulthood. However, whether emotional abuse, neglect, and mentalization abilities relate to one another and the role of possible mediators of this relationship in psychiatric patients are still unknown. We evaluated the potential role of affective temperament as a mediator of the relationship between emotional abuse and neglect and mentalization. We performed a cross-sectional study of 252 adult psychiatric inpatients. The Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, Mentalization Questionnaire, and Temperament Evaluation of Memphis, Pisa, Paris, and San Diego Autoquestionnaire (TEMPS-A) were administered. Results showed a significant indirect effect of emotional abuse and neglect on scores on the Mentalization Questionnaire through the TEMPS-A (b = 0.25, 95% confidence interval [0.143-0.375]), demonstrating that affective temperament mediates the relationship among emotional abuse, neglect, and mentalization impairment in psychiatric patients. A careful evaluation of mentalization abilities in patients with psychiatric disorders and who have a history of emotional abuse and neglect is necessary for a better understanding of psychopathology and for the choice of therapeutic strategies.

Covariation between Childhood-Trauma Related Resting-State Functional Connectivity and Affective Temperaments is Impaired in Individuals with Major Depressive Disorder

Affective temperaments and childhood-trauma experiences are associated with major depressive disorder (MDD). So far, how the covariation between distinct affective temperaments and childhood-trauma insulted brain functional connectivities (FCs) contribute to MDD remains unclear. Here, we aimed to investigate whether certain brain FC patterns are related to certain affective temperaments and whether the FCs contribute to depressive symptom dimensions of MDD patients. Twenty-nine medication-free MDD patients and 58 healthy controls underwent magnetic resonance imaging scanning and completed the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS), the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HARS), the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form (CTQ-SF), and the Temperament Evaluation of Memphis, Pisa, Paris and San Diego (TEMPS). Two multivariate analyses of partial least squares (PLS) regression were used to explore the associations among childhood-trauma related resting-state FCs, affective temperaments and depressive symptom dimensions. In all participants, a linear combination of 81 FCs (involving parahippocampus, amygdala, cingulate cortex, insula, frontal-temporal-parietal-occipital cortex, pallidum, and cerebellum) were associated with a linear combination of increased depressive, irritable, anxious, and cyclothymic temperaments. Moreover, the covariation between the PLS FC profile and the PLS affective-temperament profile were enhanced in the MDD patients compared to healthy controls. In MDD participants alone, the affective-temperament modulated FC profile (mainly of the lingual and temporal cortex) was associated with the somatization symptom dimension when age, sex, ill-duration, age-of-onset, and HARS scores were adjusted. The findings imply possible neural correlates of affective temperaments and may find applications in intervention of the somatization-depression symptoms by stimulation of the related neural correlates.

Resilience and insight in euthymic patients with bipolar disorder

BACKGROUND

The relationship between resilience and insight may be of potential importance for coping with stress in bipolar disorder (BD). The aim of this study was to investigate if there was a relation between insight and resilience in euthymic patients with BD and also to analyze the associations between resilience, impulsivity, aggression, alcohol use and affective temperament.

METHODS

142 patients with BD type I in remission period were involved. Resilience Scale for Adults-Turkish version, Schedule for Assessment of Insight, Temperament Evaluation of Memphis, Pisa, Paris and San Diego Autoquestionnaire, Barratt Impulsiveness Scale, Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire, Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test were used.

RESULTS

Total insight scores were negatively correlated with the scores of perception of future. As distinct from other subscales of resilience, family cohesion had independent significant associations with insight in relabelling of psychotic experiences and attention impulsivity. There was no relationship between total insight and total resilience scores. Resilience scores were negatively correlated with number of depressive episodes and number of suicide attempts. Degree of aggression, degree of impulsivity, scores of depressive and hyperthymic temperament significantly predicted resilience.

LIMITATIONS

Recruitment of patients from a tertiary centre limits the generalizability of the findings.

CONCLUSIONS

Better insight was related to negative perception of the future and did not have significant associations with total resilience. Number of depressive episodes, number of past suicide attempts correlated with resilience, emphasizing the importance of interventions to increase resilience in BD.

Challenging predictions between affective temperaments, depression and anxiety in a Kosovo student community sample

OBJECTIVE

The relationship between temperament and mental health problems is seen very important as we hope to explain the trajectory of this interaction. The aim of this study was to test the validity of affective temperaments for predicting psychiatric morbidity, by explaining the relationships between temperament, anxiety and depression in a community sample.

METHODS

This was a cross-sectional study. The present sample consisted of 960 participants (347 male, 622 female) with a mean age of M = 28.4 (SD = 10) randomly recruited. Affective temperaments were measured by the brief version of TEMPS-A, depression and anxiety measured with Beck Depression Inventory and Beck Anxiety Inventory.

RESULTS

The Cronbach alpha reliability coefficients for affective temperaments were between .72 and .81, for BDI and BAI, were .88 and .90. The study found significant gender differences on depressive [t(959) = -4.2, p<.001], cyclothymic [t(957) = -4.6, p < .001] and anxious temperament [t(957) = -8.2, p < .001], females having higher scores than males, and reverse results on hyperthermic temperament [t(958) = 2.1, p < .045], males having higher scores than females. No gender difference is found in irritable temperament [t(955) = -.581, p < .561]. Affective temperaments were found significant predictors for depression and anxiety. The combination of the depressive temperament and cyclothymic temperament explained the 32% variance of depression and the 25% variance of anxiety.

CONCLUSIONS

Study findings are consistent with some other studies and stress the importance of screening for effective temperament in order to early identify depression and anxiety. Further investigation is needed to understand what are other factors that influence the relationship between affective temperaments with depression and anxiety.

Impact of childhood trauma and affective temperament on resilience in bipolar disorder

Background

The aim of this study was to investigate whether childhood trauma (CT) and affective temperament have an impact on resilience in bipolar patients.

Methods

One hundred cases with bipolar disorder (BD) diagnosis according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition (DSM-IV) were evaluated consecutively in their euthymic period during outpatient follow-up interviews. Diagnostic interviews were done with SCID-I, affective temperament was evaluated with the Temperament Evaluation of Memphis, Pisa, Paris and San Diego Autoquestionnaire, and resilience was evaluated with the Resilience Scale for Adults (RSA). The presence of CT was determined and measured with the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ).

Results

Among the bipolar patients, it was found that 35 cases (35%) were CT+. Depressive, cyclothymic, and anxious temperament scores were higher in CT+ cases. However, resilience scores were higher in CT− cases. In bipolar patients with and without childhood trauma, the relationship between temperament and resilience appears to be different. A negative relation between sexual abuse, emotional abuse, emotional neglect, and anxious temperament scores and resilience scores was shown in regression analysis.

Conclusions

CT and affective temperament both have an impact on resilience in bipolar patients.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s40345-015-0023-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.