Resting-state EEG delta power is associated with psychological pain in adults with a history of depression

Abstract

Psychological pain is a prominent symptom of clinical depression. We asked if frontal alpha asymmetry, frontal EEG power, and frontal fractal dimension asymmetry predicted psychological pain in adults with a history of depression. Resting-state frontal EEG (F3/F4) was recorded while participants (N=35) sat upright with their eyes closed. Frontal delta power predicted psychological pain while controlling for depressive symptoms, with participants who exhibited less power experiencing greater psychological pain. Frontal fractal dimension asymmetry, a nonlinear measure of complexity, also predicted psychological pain, such that greater left than right complexity was associated with greater psychological pain. Frontal alpha asymmetry did not contribute unique variance to any regression model of psychological pain. As resting-state delta power is associated with the brain’s default mode network, results suggest that the default mode network was less activated during high psychological pain. Findings are consistent with a state of arousal associated with psychological pain.

Utility of a time frame in assessing psychological pain and suicide ideation

“…In a related area of research, biological markers in adults with a history of depression were not associated with psychological pain assessed on the PS, whereas these markers were associated with an alternate measure of psychological pain, namely the Orbach & Mikulincer Mental Pain (OMMP) questionnaire (Meerwijk, Chesla & Weiss, 2014; Meerwijk, Ford & Weiss, 2015). An important difference between the OMMP and PS is that the OMMP assesses current psychological pain, whereas the PS allows respondents to reflect on their lifetime psychological pain.…”

EEG correlates of induced anxiety in obsessive–compulsive patients: comparison of autobiographical and general anxiety scenarios

“…Changes in slow activity in the frontal regions have been reported in patients suffering from schizophrenia,25,26 depression27,28 and social phobia 29…”

Peer Review #2 of "Does suicidal desire moderate the association between frontal delta power and psychological pain? (v0.1)"

“…While psychological pain is not unique to people with depression, ample research has found that people with depression report high levels of psychological pain and that hopelessness covaries with psychological pain (van Heeringen et al, 2010;Mee et al, 2011;Li et al, 2014;Xie et al, 2014;Cáceda et al, 2014;Troister, D'Agata & Holden, 2015). We recently reported that psychological pain as assessed on the OMMP, but not the PS, in adults with a history of depression correlated with objective measures of resting-state neurophysiological parameters, in particular low-frequency heart rate variability (HRV) and right frontal EEG delta power (Meerwijk, Chesla & Weiss, 2014;Meerwijk, Ford & Weiss, 2015). As discussed in our previous publications, the relationship between psychological pain and these neurophysiological parameters may result from resting-state dysfunction of the sympathetic nervous system and increased sympathetic activity under conditions of greater psychological pain.…”