Childhood maltreatment has been discussed as a risk factor for the development and maintenance of depression.
To examine the relationship between childhood maltreatment and adult depression with ...regard to depression incidence, severity, age at onset, course of illness and treatment response.
We conducted meta-analyses of original articles reporting an association between childhood maltreatment and depression outcomes in adult populations.
In total, 184 studies met inclusion criteria. Nearly half of patients with depression reported a history of childhood maltreatment. Maltreated individuals were 2.66 (95% CI 2.38-2.98) to 3.73 (95% CI 2.88-4.83) times more likely to develop depression in adulthood, had an earlier depression onset and were twice as likely to develop chronic or treatment-resistant depression. Depression severity was most prominently linked to childhood emotional maltreatment.
Childhood maltreatment, especially emotional abuse and neglect, represents a risk factor for severe, early-onset, treatment-resistant depression with a chronic course.
There is ample evidence showing that childhood maltreatment (CM) is a risk factor for the development of depression in adulthood. However, little is known about the psychological processes mediating ...this relationship. This study used a large community sample to investigate the mediating role of emotional, cognitive and/or interpersonal dysfunctions on the one hand and posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms on the other hand.
One thousand twenty seven participants of a community sample filled out an online survey. Mediation analyses were computed via linear structural equation modelling.
Results showed a significant mediation of the association between CM and adult depression via emotional impairments, depressogenic attribution style and symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder. Our study design was cross-sectional and therefore did not allow testing temporal precedence of mediators and causality. Data was collected retrospectively, a confounding effect of current depressive symptoms on retrospective recall of CM therefore cannot be ruled out.
The a priori mediation model showed a good fit with the data. The model suggests promising objectives for further research on CM-related depression and potential treatment targets in the future.
The present study aimed to investigate the everyday emotional dynamics of depressed individuals, especially the role of emotional inertia, emotional context insensitivity, and emotional variability ...and instability. Using ecological momentary assessment, 40 currently depressed individuals and 40 healthy controls reported on their current emotional state and current activities 10 times a day for 4 consecutive days. There were no differences in the dynamics of positive affect (PA) between depressed and healthy subjects. Depressed participants' negative affect (NA), however, was found to be more inert than in healthy controls, while at the same time being more variable and more reactive to positive events. There was also an association between emotional instability and depression, but this was rendered nonsignificant when analyses were controlled for emotional variability. Altogether, emotional dynamics of NA appear to be more prominently disturbed in depression compared to PA. Results support earlier findings on NA emotional variability as well as inertia in depressed patients. In addition, there was some evidence for a mood brightening effect in depression.
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