Treatment with escitalopram improves the attentional bias toward negative facial expressions in patients with major depressive disorders

Zhou, Zhenhe; Cao, Suxia; Li, Hengfen; Li, Youhui

doi:10.1016/j.jocn.2015.03.036

Cited by 11 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 21 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…A study found that depressive patients who were administered SSRIs received significantly less information from negative feedback than medication naïve depressive patients, which indicated that SSRI antidepressants diminish the capacity to learn from negative feedback [ 36 ]. Similar to our findings, following eight weeks of escitalopram treatment, no significant attentional bias toward negative faces was observed in depressive patients, using a dot probe task of facial expressions [ 19 ]. A body of research results suggest that these alterations in emotional processing highlight the effectiveness of SSRIs in acting on a neutral modulation circuit, which is strongly innervated by serotonin, namely, the limbic and prefrontal cortex (PFC) [ 37 , 38 ].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

“…Our study illuminates the relationship between attentional negative faces was observed in depressive patients, using a dot probe task of facial expressions. 19 A body of research results suggest that these alterations in emotional processing highlight the effectiveness of SSRIs in acting on a neutral modulation circuit, which is strongly innervated by serotonin, namely, the limbic and prefrontal cortex (PFC). 37,38 Recent imaging studies argued that depressive patients who bias and clinical severity in depression.…”

Section: Stimulus Categorymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…18 For example, Zhou found that after eight weeks of citalopram treatment, no significant bias towards negative faces was observed in the depressive group. 19 Impairments in the neutral processing of happy facial expressions in depressed individuals were evident in the core area of emotional facial processing, and were reversed following eight weeks of antidepressant treatment. 20 In a neuroimaging study 21 that investigated the responses of depressive patients to fearful facial expressions, those who responded to SSRIs showed a greater reduction in neutral activity across a network of regions, including the anterior cingulate, insula, amygdala, and thalamus after just seven days of escitalopram treatment.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recent studies suggested that in depressive patients, SSRIs drugs may start to modify attentional biases in emotional information processing [ 18 ]. For example, Zhou found that after eight weeks of citalopram treatment, no significant bias towards negative faces was observed in the depressive group [ 19 ]. Impairments in the neutral processing of happy facial expressions in depressed individuals were evident in the core area of emotional facial processing, and were reversed following eight weeks of antidepressant treatment [ 20 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Effects of SSRI Antidepressants on Attentional Bias toward Emotional Scenes in First-Episode Depressive Patients: Evidence from an Eye-Tracking Study

Zhang

et al. 2020

Psychiatry Investig

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Objective Attentional biases toward emotional scenes may represent vulnerability and maintenance factors in depression. Antidepressant therapy may improve cognitive function and reduce depression, and is considered as the mechanism of action of antidepressants. Therefore, we conducted an eye-tracking test to examine whether selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressants can reduce negative attentional biases and elicit clinical responses in depression.Methods Twenty first-episode depressive patients freely viewed three types of pictures that depicted different emotional scenes (i.e., positive-control, neutral-control, and negative-control) for 4,000 ms while their eye movements were monitored. The attentional bias to different emotional scenes was assessed before and after eight weeks of SSRI treatment using the eye-tracking method. The control group included a group of healthy individuals.Results The results revealed that first-episode depressive patients oriented their gaze more frequently to negative images and less to happy images, compared to controls. Importantly, the attentional bias in depressive patients was regulated after eight weeks of SSRI treatment. Patients showed an increased tendency to fixate on positive images and a decreased tendency to focus on negative images.Conclusion This suggests that SSRI antidepressants decrease vulnerability to negative images, while having an effect on attention in respect to positive images.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Section: Stimulus Categorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Effects of SSRI Antidepressants on Attentional Bias toward Emotional Scenes in First-Episode Depressive Patients: Evidence from an Eye-Tracking Study

Zhang

et al. 2020

Psychiatry Investig

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Using this paradigm, previous studies have demonstrated that MDD patients often exhibit an attentional bias toward negative stimuli and/or away from positive stimuli when compared with healthy individuals (e.g., Gotlib et al, 2004a ; Joormann and Gotlib, 2007 ; Zhou et al, 2015 ). However, it seems that the negative attentional bias in depression detected by the dot-probe task depends on the exposure time of the cues.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Negative Bias During Early Attentional Engagement in Major Depressive Disorder as Examined Using a Two-Stage Model: High Sensitivity to Sad but Bluntness to Happy Cues

Wei

et al. 2020

Front. Hum. Neurosci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Attentional bias in individuals with depression and adverse childhood experiences: influence of the noradrenergic system?

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Rationale Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a severe mental disorder with affective, cognitive, and somatic symptoms. Mood congruent cognitive biases, including a negative attentional bias, are important for development, maintenance, and recurrence of depressive symptoms. MDD is associated with maladaptive changes in the biological stress systems such as dysregulations of central noradrenergic alpha2-receptors in the locus coeruleus-noradrenergic system, which can affect cognitive processes including attention. Patients with adverse childhood experiences (ACE), representing severe stress experiences in early life, might be particularly affected. Objectives With an experimental design, we aimed to gain further knowledge about the role of noradrenergic activity for attentional bias in MDD patients with and without ACE. Methods We tested the effect of increased noradrenergic activity induced by the alpha2-receptor blocker yohimbine on attentional bias in a placebo-controlled repeated measures design. Four groups were included as follows: MDD patients with and without ACE, and healthy participants with and without ACE (total N = 128, all without antidepressant medication). Results A significant effect of MDD on attentional bias scores of sad face pictures (p = .037) indicated a facilitated attentional processing of sad face pictures in MDD patients (compared to non-MDD individuals). However, we found no such effect of ACE. For attentional bias of happy face pictures, we found no significant effects of MDD and ACE. Even though a higher increase of blood pressure and salivary alpha-amylase following yohimbine compared to placebo indicated successful noradrenergic stimulation, we found no significant effects of yohimbine on attentional bias of happy or sad face pictures. Conclusions Our results are consistent with the hypothesis of a negative attentional bias in MDD patients. However, as we found no effect of ACE or yohimbine, further research is needed to understand the mechanisms by which ACE increases the risk of MDD and to understand the biological basis of the MDD-related negative attentional bias.

show abstract

Treatment with escitalopram improves the attentional bias toward negative facial expressions in patients with major depressive disorders

Cited by 11 publications

References 21 publications

Effects of SSRI Antidepressants on Attentional Bias toward Emotional Scenes in First-Episode Depressive Patients: Evidence from an Eye-Tracking Study

Effects of SSRI Antidepressants on Attentional Bias toward Emotional Scenes in First-Episode Depressive Patients: Evidence from an Eye-Tracking Study

Negative Bias During Early Attentional Engagement in Major Depressive Disorder as Examined Using a Two-Stage Model: High Sensitivity to Sad but Bluntness to Happy Cues

Attentional bias in individuals with depression and adverse childhood experiences: influence of the noradrenergic system?

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About