Is depression associated with reduced optimistic belief updating?

The bidirectional relationships of optimism and pessimism with depressive symptoms in adulthood - A 15-year follow-up study from Northern Finland Birth Cohorts

BACKGROUND

Low optimism and high pessimism have predicted depressive symptoms in several studies, but the associations in the other direction, from depressive symptoms to future optimism and pessimism, have been unexplored. We examined bidirectional associations of optimism and pessimism with depressive symptoms in adulthood.

METHODS

A population-based sample of 4011 Finnish adults (55 % women) was analyzed with a 15-year prospective follow-up period from age 31 to age 46. Optimism and pessimism were measured with the Life Orientation Test-Revised, and depressive symptoms were measured with the Symptom Checklist-25. Temporal associations were investigated with cross-lagged panel models.

RESULTS

According to the model fit indices (RMSEA < 0.04, CFI ≥ 0.97) optimism and pessimism had bidirectional relationships with depressive symptoms: optimism predicted lower depressive symptoms (β = -0.09, p < .001), and depressive symptoms predicted lower optimism (β = -0.10, p < .001) in the follow-up. Also, pessimism predicted higher depressive symptoms (β = 0.08, p < .001), and depressive symptoms predicted higher pessimism (β = 0.09, p < .001) in the follow-up. In the participants with clinically high depressive symptoms at age 31, the predictive associations from optimism and pessimism to depressive symptoms remained, but associations in the other direction were attenuated.

LIMITATIONS

The follow-up study included only two time points with a 15-year time gap, which does not consider the possible fluctuation in the study variables between the measured times.

CONCLUSION

Dispositional optimism and pessimism may have bidirectional relationships with depressive symptoms in adulthood when the baseline depressive symptoms are below the clinical level.

Depressive symptoms and the processing of unexpected social feedback: Differences in surprise levels, feedback acceptance, and "immunizing" cognition

Negative social expectations are a key symptom of depression. It has been suggested that individuals with depressive symptoms tend to maintain these expectations by devaluing new experiences that do not fit prior expectations. However, our understanding of the role of such "immunizing" cognition in response to unexpected social feedback in depression, as well as the cognitive mechanisms involved, remains limited. This study investigated the association between depressive symptoms and the cognitive processing of unexpected positive or negative social feedback using a novel, video-based approach featuring naturalistic social stimuli in a subclinical online sample (N = 155). We also examined how surprise levels, feedback acceptance and immunizing cognition relate to other cognitive processes, such as attributional style and rumination, using cross-sectional network analyses. Robust multiple linear regression analyses revealed that depressive symptoms were associated with higher surprise levels (R2adj. = .27), lower feedback acceptance (R2adj. = .19), and higher levels of immunizing cognition (R2adj. = .09) in response to unexpected positive social feedback, but only partially to unexpected negative social feedback. The network analysis suggested that self-efficacy expectations for coping with negative feelings and acceptance of positive social feedback had the strongest expected influence on the different cognitive processes. Our study highlights the challenges that individuals with depressive symptoms face in utilizing positive social feedback to modify negative expectations. For clinicians, our findings suggest the importance of promoting acceptance of positive social feedback, while simultaneously inhibiting immunizing cognition and avoiding the use of overly positive feedback.

Deciphering temporal perspectives: A key to happiness and optimism for healthy aging in nursing practices"

BACKGROUND

With the global population of older individuals increasing rapidly, it is important to understand the factors contributing to their well-being. The study aimed to investigate the relationship between older adults' time perspective and their experiences of happiness and optimism.

METHODS

A cross-sectional survey was conducted on a substantial sample size of 300 older adults from January to March 2023. The study utilized reliable and validated measures, including the Short Version of the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory and the Arabic Scales of Happiness, Optimism, and Pessimism.

RESULTS

The study found that older adults with a negative view of the past (PN perspective) had lower levels of happiness (r=-0.374, p<0.01), while those with a hedonistic view of the present (PH perspective) had higher levels of happiness (r=0.266, p<0.01). Additionally, a fatalistic view of the present (PF perspective) was associated with lower levels of happiness (r=-0.178, p<0.05) and optimism (r=-0.168, p<0.05). Negative views of the future (FN perspective) were correlated with lower happiness levels (r=-0.546, p<0.01), while positive views of the future (FP perspective) were associated with higher levels of optimism (r=0.432, p<0.01).

CONCLUSION

Older adults with a balanced time perspective, marked by positive and negative views of the past and an optimistic outlook on the future, reported moderate happiness and optimism. Older adults with a negative view of the past and a fatalistic view of the present tend to have lower levels of happiness and optimism. On the other hand, those who have a hedonistic view of the present and a positive view of the future tend to have higher levels of happiness and optimism. Older adults with a pessimistic outlook toward past experiences or the future may require additional emotional support and targeted interventions to foster a more positive mindset.

Neurobiology and systems biology of stress resilience

Stress resilience is the phenomenon that some people maintain their mental health despite exposure to adversity or show only temporary impairments followed by quick recovery. Resilience research attempts to unravel the factors and mechanisms that make resilience possible and to harness its insights for the development of preventative interventions in individuals at risk for acquiring stress-related dysfunctions. Biological resilience research has been lagging behind the psychological and social sciences but has seen a massive surge in recent years. At the same time, progress in this field has been hampered by methodological challenges related to finding suitable operationalizations and study designs, replicating findings, and modeling resilience in animals. We embed a review of behavioral, neuroimaging, neurobiological, and systems biological findings in adults in a critical methods discussion. We find preliminary evidence that hippocampus-based pattern separation and prefrontal-based cognitive control functions protect against the development of pathological fears in the aftermath of singular, event-type stressors [as found in fear-related disorders, including simpler forms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)] by facilitating the perception of safety. Reward system-based pursuit and savoring of positive reinforcers appear to protect against the development of more generalized dysfunctions of the anxious-depressive spectrum resulting from more severe or longer-lasting stressors (as in depression, generalized or comorbid anxiety, or severe PTSD). Links between preserved functioning of these neural systems under stress and neuroplasticity, immunoregulation, gut microbiome composition, and integrity of the gut barrier and the blood-brain barrier are beginning to emerge. On this basis, avenues for biological interventions are pointed out.

Depression Accompanied by Hopelessness Is Associated with More Negative Future Thinking

BACKGROUND

This study aimed to delineate the interplay between depression, hopelessness, and episodic future thinking (EFT), focusing on cognitive biases towards negative future thinking that are central to depressive symptomatically.

METHODS

A Japanese university student was utilized to scrutinize divergences in EFT across groups stratified by varying degrees of depression and hopelessness. The research leveraged a modified future thinking task (FTT), the Beck Hopelessness Scale, and the Beck Depression Inventory-II to gauge participants' levels of hopelessness and depressive symptoms.

RESULTS

Consistent with prior research, the non-depressed group showed a reduction in positive EFT, reinforcing the idea that diminished positive future thinking is a hallmark of depressive conditions, even in the absence of a clinical diagnosis. Moreover, individuals with comorbid depression and elevated hopelessness demonstrated a significant decrease in positive EFT and an increase in negative EFT, substantiating a distinctive cognitive profile for this subgroup. This finding suggests that the presence of hopelessness exacerbates the negative cognitive biases associated with depression.

CONCLUSIONS

The study emphasizes the importance of considering hopelessness as an independent construct when assessing EFT in clinical contexts. The pronounced impact of hopelessness on future thinking in those with depression suggests that targeted interventions, such as future-directed therapy (FDT), may be particularly effective for individuals with hopelessness depression by focusing on modifying negative future thinking patterns and enhancing life quality.

Impact of childhood maltreatment on adult resilience

BACKGROUND

Previous studies suggested that childhood maltreatment is associated with poor health outcomes. While not everyone who experiences abuse as a child goes on to experience poor mental health, some traumatized people are grown to be more resilient than others. Few studies have examined the association between childhood maltreatment and adult resilience. This study aimed to determine different relationships between specific types and features of childhood maltreatment with adult resilience among Chinese with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and healthy controls (HCs).

METHODS

A total of 101 patients with MDD and 116 participants in the healthy control (HC) group from Zhumadian Psychiatric Hospital and its nearby communities were included in this analysis. Childhood maltreatment was assessed retrospectively using Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ). Adults' resilience was assessed by the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC). Generalized linear models were applied between childhood maltreatment (specific types and features) and resilience adjusting for covariates.

RESULTS

The total score of CD-RISC and factor scores of strength, optimism, and tenacity in the HC group were higher than those in the MDD group. CTQ total score had a negative association with optimism score among participants in MDD (β=-0.087, P < 0.001) and HC (β=-0.074, P = 0.023) groups. Higher emotional neglect (EN) score (β=-0.169, P = 0.001) and physical neglect (PN) score (β=-0.153, P = 0.043) were related to a worse optimism score in MDD group. Emotional abuse (EA) score was associated with a worse tenacity score (β=-0.674, P = 0.031) in MDD group. For participants in HC group, higher EN and PN scores were related to worse resilience scores (tenacity, strength, and optimism).

CONCLUSIONS

Patients with MDD showed lower optimism than HCs. Childhood maltreatment, especially childhood negect, independently contributed to optimism, with more severe childhood maltreatment predictive of worse performance of optimism. EA in childhood was also linked to worse tenacity in adult patients with MDD.

Biased belief updating in depression

Cognitive approaches to depression have benefitted from recent research on belief updating, examining how new information is used to alter beliefs. This review presents recent advances in understanding various sources of bias in belief updating in depression. Specifically, research has demonstrated that people with depression have difficulty revising negative beliefs in response to novel positive information, whereas belief updating in depression is not related to an enhanced integration of negative information. In terms of mechanisms underlying the deficient processing of positive information, research has shown that people with depression use defensive cognitive strategies to devalue novel positive information. Furthermore, the disregard of novel positive information can be amplified by the presence of state negative affect, and the resulting persistence of negative beliefs in turn perpetuates chronically low mood, contributing to a self-reinforcing negative feedback loop of beliefs and affect. Synthesising previous research, this review proposes a coherent framework of when belief change is likely to occur, and argues that future research also needs to elucidate why people with depression hesitate to abandon negative beliefs. Recent insights from belief updating have not only improved the understanding of the psychopathology of depression, but also have the potential to improve its cognitive-behavioural treatment.

The mediation role of psychological capital between family relationship and antenatal depressive symptoms among women with advanced maternal age: a cross sectional study

Background

Due to changes in family policy in China, pregnancy at advanced age (30 years old or above) is prevalent. Advanced maternal age is known to be related to a variety of negative health outcomes, including antenatal depression. Family relationship quality might be an important factor for antenatal depressive symptoms among Chinese women with advanced maternal age. However, the underlying mechanisms in which family relationship quality can affect antenatal depressive symptoms among this population and how positive psychological capital (PsyCap) intervenes in this impact are not clear.

Objectives

To describe the prevalence and demographic characteristics of antenatal depressive symptoms among Chinese pregnant women with advanced maternal age, and to explore the mediation effect of PsyCap in the associations between family relationship quality and antenatal depressive symptoms.

Methods

We conducted a cross-sectional survey at a tertiary hospital in China. A total of 192 women with maternal age of 30 years or older completed the questionnaires. Data on antenatal depressive symptoms, PsyCap, family relationship quality and demographic characteristics were collected. The multiple mediation models in SPSS’s PROCESS macro were used to test whether PsyCap mediated the relationship between family relationship quality and antenatal depressive symptoms.

Results

Approximately 28.6% of participants had antenatal depressive symptoms and 6.8% reported poor family relationship quality. Participants with higher education (p = .02) and better family relationship quality (p = .00) were less likely to have antenatal depressive symptoms. PsyCap collectively (β = 1.14, p < .05), or more specifically resilience (β = 0.61, p < .05) significantly mediated the relationship between poor family relationship quality and antenatal depressive symptoms.

Discussion

The relationship between family relationship quality and antenatal depressive symptoms can be mediated by PsyCap collectively or via resilience specifically. It is important to screen antenatal depressive symptoms among pregnant women with advanced age, especially those who have poor family relationship quality. Counseling and psychotherapy initiatives for resilience-enhancing training for pregnant women at advanced age may provide a promising target to break the link between poor family relationship quality and antenatal depressive symptoms.

Is depression associated with reduced optimistic belief updating?

When asked to evaluate their probability of experiencing a negative life event, healthy individuals update their beliefs more following good news than bad. This is referred to as optimistic belief updating. By contrast, individuals with depression update their beliefs by a similar amount, showing reduced optimism. We conducted the first independent replication of this effect and extended this work to examine whether reduced optimistic belief updating in depression also occurs for positive life events. Replicating previous research, healthy and depression groups differed in belief updating for negative events (β = 0.71, 95% CI: 0.24, 1.18). Whereas healthy participants updated their beliefs more following good news than bad, individuals experiencing depression lacked this bias. However, our findings for positive events were inconclusive. While we did not find statistical evidence that patterns of belief updating between groups varied by valence (β = -0.51, 95% CI: -1.16, 0.15), mean update scores suggested that both groups showed largely similar updating for positive life events. Our results add confidence to previous findings that depression is characterized by negative future expectations maintained by reduced updating in response to good news. However, further research is required to understand the specificity of this to negative events, and into refining methods for quantifying belief updating in clinical and non-clinical research.