BACKGROUND: Empathy has a central role in successful interpersonal engagement. Several studies have reported altered empathy in major depressive disorder (MDD), which could lead to interpersonal difficulties. However, the neural basis of altered empathy in the disorder is still largely unknown. To address this, we performed functional magnetic resonance imaging that tested empathy for others׳ pain in MDD patients. METHODS: Eleven patients with MDD and 11 age-, gender-, handedness-, and education level-matched healthy control subjects were studied. We compared MDD patients and healthy controls for their regional hemodynamic responses to visual perception of videos showing human hands in painful situations. We also assessed subjective pain ratings of the videos in each group. RESULTS: The MDD patients showed lower pain ratings for the painful videos compared with the healthy controls. In addition, the MDD patients showed reduced cerebral activation in the left middle cingulate cortex, and the right somatosensory-related cortices, whereas they showed greater cerebral activation in the left inferior frontal gyrus. LIMITATIONS: We relied on a relatively small sample size and could not exclude effects of medications. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that in MDD patients the altered neural activations in these regions may be associated with a deficit in the identification of pain in others. This study adds to our understanding of the neural mechanism involved in empathy in MDD.
BACKGROUND: Empathy has a central role in successful interpersonal engagement. Several studies have reported altered empathy in major depressive disorder (MDD), which could lead to interpersonal difficulties. However, the neural basis of altered empathy in the disorder is still largely unknown. To address this, we performed functional magnetic resonance imaging that tested empathy for others׳ pain in MDDpatients. METHODS: Eleven patients with MDD and 11 age-, gender-, handedness-, and education level-matched healthy control subjects were studied. We compared MDDpatients and healthy controls for their regional hemodynamic responses to visual perception of videos showing human hands in painful situations. We also assessed subjective pain ratings of the videos in each group. RESULTS: The MDDpatients showed lower pain ratings for the painful videos compared with the healthy controls. In addition, the MDDpatients showed reduced cerebral activation in the left middle cingulate cortex, and the right somatosensory-related cortices, whereas they showed greater cerebral activation in the left inferior frontal gyrus. LIMITATIONS: We relied on a relatively small sample size and could not exclude effects of medications. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that in MDDpatients the altered neural activations in these regions may be associated with a deficit in the identification of pain in others. This study adds to our understanding of the neural mechanism involved in empathy in MDD.
Authors: Thomas Pokorny; Katrin H Preller; Michael Kometer; Isabel Dziobek; Franz X Vollenweider Journal: Int J Neuropsychopharmacol Date: 2017-09-01 Impact factor: 5.176
Authors: Markus Rütgen; Carolina Pletti; Martin Tik; Christoph Kraus; Daniela Melitta Pfabigan; Ronald Sladky; Manfred Klöbl; Michael Woletz; Thomas Vanicek; Christian Windischberger; Rupert Lanzenberger; Claus Lamm Journal: Transl Psychiatry Date: 2019-06-07 Impact factor: 6.222
Authors: Ilja M J Saris; Brenda W J H Penninx; Richard Dinga; Marie-Jose van Tol; Dick J Veltman; Nic J A van der Wee; Moji Aghajani Journal: Sci Rep Date: 2020-01-13 Impact factor: 4.379