Toward a neurobehavioral trait conceptualization of depression proneness

Abstract

The etiology of major depressive disorder is heterogeneous, and differing pathways leading to the development of depression are proposed to account for alternative variants of depressive illness and their distinct comorbidity patterns. The present study was undertaken as a step toward developing a model for conceptualizing and quantifying dispositional proneness to depression, marked by reduced neural sensitivity to rewarding events and more persistent occurrence of depressive symptomatology. Using data for college and community adult participants (N = 201), we sought to quantify variations in depression proneness by combining symptom indicators of persistent depressive conditions (dysthymic disorder, depressive personality) with a brain potential response that has been shown to index sensitivity to pleasurable events—the reward positivity (RewP; Proudfit, 2015). We first extended prior work on the RewP and depression by showing that the magnitude of RewP covaried negatively with symptoms of persistent depressive conditions (dysthymia, depressive personality) but not with current levels of depression. Persistent depressive symptoms and the RewP were then combined to form a composite neuroclinical index of depression proneness. Compared to persistent depressive symptoms alone, this composite dimensional index showed improved specificity of relations with diagnostic criterion measures, that is, similar‐level associations with other indicators of depression proneness but significantly lower associations with fear disorder symptomatology. These findings provide evidence that a dimension of depression proneness can be quantified effectively by combining psychological indicators of persistent depression with a neurophysiological index of a core depression‐related process (i.e., reward sensitivity).

A Model-Based Strategy for Interfacing Traits of the DSM-5 AMPD With Neurobiology

“…Participants utilized in the current analyses were from two studies involving mixed community/college samples that employed overlapping test protocols (for details, see Bowyer et al, 2019, andVenables et al, 2018), 3 resulting in a combined N of 334 for analyses (46.7% female) after exclusion of 37 individuals with excessive missing data (14 with scores for fewer than two of the four brain response indicators utilized in the modeling analyses described below, 18 with scores for fewer than three of the PID-5 trait scales utilized in these 2. None of the PID-5 scales includes items pertaining specifically to stealing/theft, so it was not possible to evaluate whether inclusion of a scale indicator of this ESI externalizing facet would improve the fit of the correlated two-factor model.…”

“…As such, the PID-5's organizational structure is helpful for relating the AMPD system for personality pathology to influential models of normative personality and general psychopathology. However, it is also important-in light of growing interest in multimodal assessment of psychopathology-relevant characteristics (e.g., Kozak & Cuthbert, 2016;Kwako, Momenan, Litten, Koob, & Goldman, 2016;Volkow et al, 2018)-to consider how traits of the AMPD might be aggregated to connect effectively with clinically relevant biobehavioral dimensions such as threat sensitivity (Yancey, Venables, & Patrick, 2016), reward sensitivity (Bowyer et al, 2019), and inhibitory control (Venables et al, 2018). Doing so would facilitate efforts to incorporate neurobiological measures into AMPD-oriented assessments and establish biologically informed interventions for mental health problems (Patrick, Iacono, & Venables, 2019a;Perkins, Latzman, & Patrick, 2019).…”

Interfacing neural constructs with the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology: ‘Why' and ‘how'

“…Other units of the HiTOP symptom hierarchy, such as the broad Internalizing dimension, are likely to relate to multiple NB traits—e.g. both threat sensitivity and reward sensitivity—with lower‐order dimensions relating more directly to a given NB trait—e.g. threat sensitivity to the Fear subfactor.…”

Neurobiology and the Hierarchical Taxonomy ofPsychopathology: progress toward ontogenetically informed and clinically usefulnosology

“… 59 , 60 Importantly, this brain-response measure appears to index proneness to depression rather than neural dysfunction associated with current depressive symptomatology. 61 Bolstering the case for liability status, reduced RewP response is present in unaffected family members of depressed individuals 62 and is observed even in preschool-aged depressed children. 63 , 64 The RewP is also beginning to be examined in relation to other forms of psychopathology involving reward system dysfunction, including SPs.…”