Self-compassion and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex activity during sad self-face recognition in depressed adolescents

Abstract

Background Given the prevalence of adolescent depression and the modest effects of current treatments, research ought to inform development of effective intervention strategies. Self-compassion is inversely associated with depression, and self-compassion interventions have demonstrated promising effects on reducing depression. However, little is known about the neural mechanisms underlying that relationship. Maladaptive self-processing is a characteristic of depression that contributes to the onset and chronicity of depression. Because our own face is an automatic and direct cue for self-processing, this study investigated whether self-compassion was associated with neural responses during sad v. neutral self-face recognition and explore their relationship with depression severity in depressed adolescents and healthy controls (HCs). Methods During functional magnetic resonance imaging, 81 depressed youth and 37 HCs were instructed to identify whether morphed self or other faces with sad, happy, or neutral expressions resembled their own. Results Self-compassion correlated negatively with activity during sad v. neutral self-face recognition in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex in the total sample, and in the right posterior cingulate cortex/precuneus in HCs, respectively. In depressed adolescents, higher self-compassion correlated with lower activity during sad v. neutral self-face recognition in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), implying that less cognitive effort might be needed to avoid dwelling on sad self-faces and/or regulate negative affect induced by them. Moreover, higher self-compassion mediated the relationship between lower DLPFC activity and reduced depression severity. Conclusions Our findings imply that DLPFC activity might be a biological marker of a successful self-compassion intervention as potential treatment for adolescent depression.

Investigating the Influence of Self-Compassion-Focused Interventions on Posttraumatic Stress: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…In contrast, lower level of self-compassion was demonstrated to affect PTSD symptoms through emotion regulation difficulties and disengagement coping (Barlow et al, 2017;Hamrick & Owens, 2019;Lenferink et al, 2017;Scoglio et al, 2018). In addition, there is evidence suggesting physiological changes and neural activations associated with self-compassion (Liu et al, 2020;Luo et al, , 2018Luo et al, , , 2020Lutz et al, 2020). It is unclear whether self-compassion-focused interventions could induce long-lasting benefits on PTSD symptoms.…”

The Neurological Asymmetry of Self-Face Recognition

“…Quevedo's group furthered this discussion by examining SFR in clinical populations including those with depression. Persons rated high in suicidal affect and cognitions, for example, have a unique neural response to the self-face compared to those without; self-faces involve differential neural circuits including the amygdala depending on clinical diagnosis and symptomatology [131][132][133][134][135]. These data indicate that SFR in its absence may indicate a lack of SA (i.e., autism) and that SFR in its presence may indicate different degrees of SA in different populations.…”

Self-Enhancement and the Medial Prefrontal Cortex: the Convergence of Clinical and Experimental Findings

“…This suggest at least some degree of mood enhancement, SE, and the PFC. This clearly makes sense as self, emotion, and the PFC are highly related [115][116][117][118][119][120] . Individuals self-enhance to avoid the adversities they face from societal pressures [121][122][123] .…”