Neuropsychobiology of trait-state factors of depressive disorders and Neuroticism
[eng] Major depressive disorder (MDD) is the most common of the affective disorders and ranks among the major causes of disability worldwide. Some vulnerability factors for the development of MDD have been proposed: neuroticism, stressful situations, comorbidity. However, to date it is not well esta...
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| Formato: | tesis doctoral |
| Estado: | Versión publicada |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2005 |
| País: | España |
| Recursos: | Universidad de Barcelona |
| Repositorio: | Dipòsit Digital de la UB |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:diposit.ub.edu:2445/42764 |
| Acesso em linha: | https://hdl.handle.net/2445/42764 http://www.tdx.cat/TDX-0622105-121745 http://hdl.handle.net/10803/2687 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palavra-chave: | Depressió psíquica Neuropsicologia Trastorns de la cognició Psicofarmacologia Mental depression Neuropsychology Cognition disorders Psychopharmacolog |
| Resumo: | [eng] Major depressive disorder (MDD) is the most common of the affective disorders and ranks among the major causes of disability worldwide. Some vulnerability factors for the development of MDD have been proposed: neuroticism, stressful situations, comorbidity. However, to date it is not well established if MDD is a unique mental disorder or consists of several subtypes determined by age of onset, psychotic characteristics, melancholia, course of the illness, etc. The general aim of this dissertation is to study the trait-state neurocognitive characteristics of major depressive disorders and neuroticism. For this purpose, different tools such as neuropsychological instruments and neuroimaging techniques are used in order to investigate the cognitive functioning and the brain characteristics of this illness and related issues. This dissertation consists of different studies designed to shed new light on MDD and neuroticism -taken as a known vulnerability factor for MDD-. First, we aim to assess the cognitive impairment in elderly depressed patients in a longitudinal study to determine whether this impairment remits after treatment. And next, the objective is to investigate those characteristics related to depressive disorders in healthy volunteers who might be at some risk for developing the illness. The challenge is to untangle the neuropsychological and biological mechanisms mediating the vulnerability and the development of depressive disorders. We investigate the neurocognitive functioning to determine the impact of enduring deficits of brain function. The results show that cognitive impairment can be considered a trait characteristic of elderly major depression, regardless of the successful response to treatment. In terms of neuroticism, cognitive and emotional processing abnormalities in extremely high N healthy subjects are found, when compared with extremely low N subjects. Elevated morning salivary cortisol levels can exist in the absence of major depression, as they are observed in subjects with high N scores who have never experienced depression. High neurotic volunteers recruit a number of limbic areas when processing emotional stimuli. So, it is suggested that N would exert an influence on the emotional responses in a higher level, potentially operating as a protective mechanism to prevent over-stimulation of the limbic areas, and possibly to become definitely depressed. |
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