Depression and Anxiety最新文献

The COVID-19 pandemic was a world-wide health emergency that resulted in individuals experiencing challenges in numerous life domains. Life domains affected included physical and mental health, finances, and social isolation. Many health and research professionals evidenced concern that veterans were more likely than civilians to experience COVID-19 related problems due to their “at-risk” health status. Veterans are at-risk for health problems due to encountering unique military experiences such as traumatic exposures, development of trauma-related mental health symptoms or disorders, combat-related injuries, and disability, exposure to toxins such as burn pits and biological agents, and living with chronic stress during their transition to civilian life. It was suggested that the disruptions and challenges the COVID-19 pandemic created could trigger mental health problems among veterans. Indeed, based on cumulative stress theory, female veterans and veterans from racial and ethnic minority groups were thought to be particularly vulnerable for experiencing mental health challenges. The current study examined changes in the symptoms of depression and anxiety before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic among a large and diverse sample of post-9/11 veterans. As predicted, when compared to White male veterans, male and female veterans from racial and ethnic minority groups reported having higher symptom levels of anxiety and depression before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic. All veterans, except for females from racial and ethnic minority groups, reported experiencing increases in symptoms over time. Exposure to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), combat exposure, and length of longest deployment were inconsistently associated with symptoms over time. The results suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with individuals experiencing increased anxious and depressive symptoms over time, although not in a wholly consistent manner. Future global health emergencies may have differential gender- and race/ethnicity-based effects on veterans; thus, veteran-serving organizations should carefully plan their responses to such crises.

Letter from the Editor in Chief

As Depression and Anxiety starts a new chapter, we are taking the time to reflect on where we have come from—and where we are heading. Under the previous leadership of Editor-in-Chief Murray Stein in collaboration with the Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA) and Editor-in-Chief Peter P. Roy-Byrne the journal has been taking the toll of the challenges that mental health has faced in the last 10 years or so. We thank the Editors for the work they have done.

Under a new direction, the journal’s mission will be to publishing work that truly resonates with and benefits our global audience. Depression and Anxiety will embrace a more international and interdisciplinary approach. We want to publish high-quality research and thoughtful reviews that speak to the real-world challenges of mental health. By fostering dialog and engagement across borders and disciplines, we are building a collaborative and diverse community that recognizes the multifaceted aspect of mental health. Social, political, and environmental forces all shape our well-being in complex ways. That is why we are prioritizing work that takes an inclusive, interdisciplinary approach to the understanding and treatment of depression and anxiety. Neurobiology, epidemiology, experimental psychopathology, pharmacology, and treatment innovations for mood and anxiety disorders will all fall within the scope of the journal. Some examples of topics our journal is interested in include: environmental degradation and its impact on mental health; political conflicts and mental health; new treatments for anxiety and depression new drugs development; mental health in adolescents and young adults, including how to preserve their well-being and treat any disorders; mental health in marginalized populations, including prisoners, ethnic minorities, LGBTQ+, people with disabilities, people who live with addictions, and people who live in extremely poor conditions; how our diet and nutrition is linked to some mental health disorders. We actively welcome contributions from clinicians, researchers, and individuals around the world who can offer a novel evidence-based approach. Studies that aim to replicate prior findings, while valuable, will be referred to our open-access partner journal Brain and Behavior, with a guarantee of peer review, to ensure fit and relevance.

We invite academics, clinicians, policymakers, and the public with lived experience to join us. Through shared insights, innovative research, and open exchange, we believe Depression and Anxiety can be more than a journal—it can be a catalyst for meaningful, global change in the field of mental health.

Depression and Anxiety

Background: Stress-reactive rumination (SR)—the tendency to repetitively think about stressors—has been proposed as a key cognitive mechanism linking trait anxiety to persistent negative affect (NA). However, the dynamic and context-dependent nature of this relationship remains unclear. This study employed a multimethod experimental design to investigate the manifestation of SR in individuals with high trait anxiety (HTA) across different contexts and to examine whether SR and NA demonstrate a bidirectional predictive relationship over time.

Methods: A total of 62 participants (31 with high and 31 with low trait anxiety (LTA), respectively) completed a 14-day ecological momentary assessment (EMA) four times/day to record dynamic fluctuations in SR and NA over time in daily life. Afterward, participants underwent the Trier social stress test (TSST) to examine SR and NA responses under acute laboratory stress. Cross-lagged models assessed temporal associations between SR and NA in both contexts.

Results: EMA data showed that individuals with HTA reported significantly higher SR and NA than their low anxiety counterparts (p < 0.001). Cross-lagged analyses revealed a significant bidirectional predictive relationship between SR and NA, although this relationship was present only in the HTA group (SR → NA: b = 0.159, p < 0.001; NA → SR: b = 0.072, p = 0.038). In the laboratory, SR and NA were successfully induced by stress, particularly in the HTA group (p < 0.001), but cross-lagged effects were not observed.

Conclusions: In individuals with HTA, SR demonstrates both persistence and context-dependent reactivity. The observed reciprocal dynamics between SR and NA in real-life settings underscore the role of attentional control deficits in maintaining emotional dysregulation. Interventions targeting SR may disrupt this maladaptive cycle and reduce anxiety vulnerability.

Background: The therapeutic effects of vortioxetine on mood and cognition have been documented in major depressive disorder (MDD). This study aims to examine whether vortioxetine can improve brain glymphatic system function and connections among functional brain networks and to explore the underlying relationships among these changes.

Methods: A total of 34 patients with MDD and 41 healthy controls (HCs) were recruited in the study. All participants underwent mood and cognitive assessment, and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and resting-state functional MRI scans at baseline and 8-week follow-up. The DTI analysis along the perivascular space (DTI-ALPS) index, and functional connectivity (FC) were assessed. Cognitive assessment was conducted using the Chinese version of Measurement Consensus Cognitive Battery (MCCB). Correlation analysis was subsequently performed to explore underlying association among these indexes.

Results: Compared to HCs, patients with MDD showed decreased DTI-ALPS indexes at baseline; patients with MDD showed increased the default mode network (DMN) FC between the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC)–precuneus; patients with MDD displayed decreased attention/vigilance, verbal learning, visual learning, social cognition, and global cognition. Treatment with vortioxetine, patients with MDD displayed reduced depressive symptoms, increased DTI-ALPS indexes, decreased DMN FC, and improved attention/vigilance, verbal learning, visual learning, social cognition, and global cognition. Moreover, the increased DTI-ALPS indexes correlated with improved global cognition, and decreased DMN FC in MDD, respectively.

Conclusions: The current study indicated vortioxetine improves glymphatic system function and brain connections within the DMN in MDD. Furthermore, the restoration of glymphatic function is linked to improved brain function and cognition.

Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: ChiCTR2200057820

Objectives: Aging is an inevitable process. Chronic pain and late-life depression frequently coexist in older adults. This study was aimed to explore the association between chronic pain and late-life depression in Chinese centenarians and oldest-old adults.

Study Design: According to the list provided by the Department of Civil Affairs, a household survey was conducted on all centenarian and oldest-old adults residing in 18 cities and counties of Hainan Province.

Methods: The household survey method was used to collect basic information with interview questionnaires, physical examinations, and blood tests conducted by systematically trained doctors and nurses. This study used visual analog scales and numerical rating scale for pain assessment. Geriatric depression scale (GDS) was used for the evaluation of depression.

Results: All 1324 older adults had a median age of 91 years, ranging from 80 to 116 years. Among them, 349 older adults (26.4%) have depression, and 507 (38.3%) suffer from chronic pain. Comorbidity rate of chronic pain and late-life depression was 12.6% (167 participants). Furthermore, late-life depression (odds ratio [OR]: 1.591, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.218–2.078, and p = 0.001) was significantly and positively associated with chronic pain in multivariate logistic regression analysis. Chronic pain (OR: 1.581, 95% CI: 1.210–2.067, and p = 0.001) was significant and positive factor associated with late-life depression in multivariate logistic regression analysis.

Conclusions: This study demonstrated that chronic pain and late-life depression are positively associated in Chinese centenarians and oldest-old adults. This suggests that the management of pain should be considered when treating late-life depression in older adults.

Smoking during pregnancy is known to adversely affect offspring health; however, the association between maternal smoking during pregnancy and the risk of depression and anxiety in offspring remains inconsistent. This meta-analysis aimed to clarify this relationship. A systematic search was conducted in PubMed, Web of Science, and OVID databases for articles published between 2000 and 2024. The odds ratio (OR) with a 95% confidence interval (CI) was used to assess the association. A total of 11 studies involving 1,775,220 participants met the inclusion criteria. The meta-analysis revealed that maternal smoking during pregnancy was significantly associated with an increased risk of depression in offspring (OR = 1.33, 95% CI = 1.09–1.63). Stratified analysis by cigaret consumption dose showed that heavy maternal smoking (≥ 10 cigarets/day) further increased the risk of both depression (OR = 1.61, 95% CI = 1.21–2.14) and anxiety (OR = 1.51, 95% CI = 1.32–1.72) in offspring. In conclusion, this meta-analysis provides evidence that maternal smoking during pregnancy may elevate the risk of depression and anxiety in offspring, particularly with heavy smoking. Preventing maternal smoking and reducing exposure to tobacco smoke during pregnancy could have significant benefits for offspring mental health and well-being.

Background: University students often experience high levels of stress and anxiety during exam periods, adversely affecting their well-being and academic performance. This study investigated the short-term effects of evening bright light (BL) exposure on several psychophysiological stress measures during exam preparation.

Methods: In this preregistered randomized controlled pilot study, 35 university students were assigned either to an intervention group exposed to BL (1500 lx, 4000 K; n = 18) or a control light (CL) group with standard lighting (100 lx, 3000 K; n = 17) for 4 h over five consecutive evenings. Outcomes included questionnaires (test anxiety, general anxiety, psychological distress), cognitive performance (2-back, go-/no-go task [GNT]), physiological stress (heart rate variability [HRV]), and subjective and objective sleep quality measures (actigraphy).

Results: The BL group showed significant reductions in test anxiety by the last evening. Both groups improved in working memory performance over time. HRV analysis revealed mixed results, with some indications of reduced stress in the BL group on the first day. No adverse effects of evening BL were found on sleep parameters, and participants reported significantly higher satisfaction with the BL exposure.

Conclusions: Evening BL exposure during exam preparation may help reduce test anxiety without significantly disrupting sleep. Although cognitive performance effects were limited, the perceived usefulness suggests that BL could be a well-accepted supportive measure for students during stressful academic periods. Further research is needed to optimize light-based interventions for student well-being.

Major depressive disorder (MDD) and schizophrenia (SZ) are among the most debilitating psychiatric disorders, characterized by widespread disruptions in large-scale brain networks. However, the commonalities and distinctions in their large-scale network distributions remain unclear. The present study aimed to leverage advanced deep learning techniques to identify these common and distinct patterns, providing insights into the shared and disorder-specific neural mechanisms underlying MDD and SZ. Recent advances in graph neural networks (GNNs) offer a powerful framework for analyzing brain connectivity patterns, enabling automated learning of complex, high-dimensional network features. In this study, we applied state-of-art GNN architectures to classify MDD and SZ patients from healthy controls (HCs), respectively, using a multisite resting-state fMRI dataset. The attention-based hierarchical pooling GNN (SAGPool) model achieved the highest performance, with mean accuracies of 71.50% for MDD and 75.65% for SZ classification. Using a perturbation-based explainability method, we identified prominent functional connections driving model decisions, revealing distinct patterns of the large-scale network disruption across disorders. In MDD, alterations were dominantly observed in the default mode network (DMN), whereas SZ exhibited prominent alterations in the ventral attention network (VAN). Notably, specific functional connections identified by our model showed significant correlations with clinical symptoms, particularly positive and general symptoms measured by the positive and negative syndrome scale (PANSS) in SZ patients. Our findings demonstrate the utility of GNNs for uncovering complex connectivity patterns in psychiatric disorders and provide novel insights into the distinct neural mechanisms underlying MDD and SZ. These results highlight the potential of graph-based models as tools for both diagnostic classification and biomarker discovery in psychiatric research.

Background: Postpartum depression (PPD) and postpartum post-traumatic stress disorder (PP-PTSD) are prevalent among women. However, the specific symptoms that serve as bridges remain unknown between these two disorders.

Aim: The objective of this study is to establish a symptom network model for PPD and PP-PTSD and investigate the bridge symptoms and their interrelationships in cases of comorbid PPD and PP-PTSD.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at a tertiary hospital in Wuhan from March 2024 to November 2024. PPD was evaluated using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, and PP-PTSD was measured using the Chinese version of the Perinatal PTSD Questionnaire. The “Postpartum Depression–Postpartum Post-traumatic Stress Disorder” network model was constructed and analyzed using R software version 4.2.3.

Conclusion: Healthcare professionals should focus on the severe bridge symptoms reported by postpartum women. To enhance awareness and alleviate anxiety levels, it is advisable to implement positive psychological interventions.

Background: The maladaptive metacognition measured by the Metacognition Questionnaire-30 (MCQ-30) is often linked to a wide range of affective disorders. However, few studies have elucidated the neural underpinnings of different metacognition subdimensions. Additionally, the relationship between these functional neural bases and longitudinal changes in individual emotional distresses remains unclear.

Methods: A total of 180 college students completed brain imaging and a battery of behavioral assessments. Employing the connectome-based predictive modeling (CPM), we delineated the functional connectivity (FC) network of each metacognition subdimension. Then, the mediation model was used to explore the relationships between FC networks, metacognition subdimensions, and emotional distresses.

Results: Default mode network (DMN) was found to be the general network of three significant subdimensions. Specifically, the FC network of cognitive self-consciousness (CSC) was scattered and mainly relied on DMN and frontoparietal network; need to control thoughts (NC) was largely consisted of the correlates between DMN and ventral attention network (VAN); negative beliefs about uncontrollability and danger of worry (NEG) was primarily associated with DMN and its correlates with visual network. CSC, NC, and NEG could mediate the relationship between the corresponding FC network and emotional distresses. Additionally, the CSC related and NEG related FCs could effectively predict the change of anxiety positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA).

Conclusions: These findings demonstrated the common and distinct FC bases of maladaptive metacognition. The excessive FCs of CSC and NEG might be responsible for impaired self-check-related ability and further increase the risk of several affective disorders.