Psychological resilience mediates the protective role of default-mode network functional connectivity against COVID-19 vicarious traumatization

Abstract

Vicarious traumatization (VT), a negative reaction to witnessing others’ trauma, has been experienced by some people during the COVID-19 pandemic, and can lead to mental health problems. This study aimed to identify functional brain markers of COVID-specific VT and explore the psychological mechanism underlying the brain-VT link. One hundred healthy participants underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging before the pandemic (October 2019–January 2020) and completed VT measurement during the pandemic (February–April 2020). Whole-brain correlation analysis based on global functional connectivity density (FCD) mapping revealed that VT was negatively correlated with FCD in the right inferior temporal gyrus (ITG) (i.e., the lower FCD in ITG, the worse the VT), identified by mapping onto known large-scale networks as part of the default-mode network (DMN). Resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) analysis using ITG as seed found that VT was predicted by lower functional connectivity between ITG and other DMN regions including left medial prefrontal cortex, left orbitofrontal cortex, right superior frontal gyrus, right inferior parietal lobule and bilateral precuneus (i.e., the lower the ITG-DMN connectivity, the worse the VT). Mediation analyses suggested that psychological resilience served as a mediator in these associations of ITG FCD and ITG-DMN RSFC with VT. Our results provide novel evidence on the brain basis of VT and emphasize psychological resilience as an important link from DMN functional connectivity to COVID-specific-VT. This may facilitate public health interventions by helping identify individuals at risk of stress- and trauma-related psychopathologies.

Altered gray matter volume and functional connectivity in lung cancer patients with bone metastasis pain

“…In such stressful, continuous and painful situations, BPM(+) patients are more likely to be neurotic and prone to sustained psychological problems including posttraumatic stress symptoms. It is worth noting that positive psychological responses, such as positive expectancies, psychological resilience, and grit can provide strong protection for mental health of patients and even promote posttraumatic growth, which may affect our findings (Lai et al, 2023;Liu et al, 2023;Wang et al, 2023).…”

The Impact of Grit on Nurses’ Job Performance: Evaluating Chained Mediation through Perceived Social Support and Self-Esteem

“…First, the study used a crosssectional design which did not permit inference about the causality relations; thus, caution is needed to interpret the current fnding, and the feasibility of the fndings for use in nursing management warrants further investigation. Future studies may also test the mediating models using a longitudinal design tracking the changes of these variables over time to draw robust conclusions about causality [100]. Second, the data were collected only through self-report instruments.…”