Elsevier

Behavior Therapy

Volume 46, Issue 6, November 2015, Pages 797-808
Behavior Therapy

Genetic Correlates of Maladaptive Beliefs: COMT VAL158MET and Irrational Cognitions Linked Depending on Distress

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beth.2015.06.004Get rights and content

Highlights

  • The COMT Val158Met-irrational beliefs link depended on the level of emotional distress.

  • Results contribute to assumptions about biological predispositions to irrationality.

  • The findings have potential implications for the therapygenetics field.

Abstract

Maladaptive/irrational beliefs are significant cognitive vulnerability mechanisms in psychopathology. They are more likely to be associated with a genetic vulnerability marker under conditions of emotional distress when irrational beliefs are more salient. Therefore, in the current study we investigated the COMT Val158Met gene variation in relation to irrational beliefs, assuming this relationship depended on the level of emotional distress.

Two hundred and sixty-seven genotyped volunteers were assessed for core/general maladaptive beliefs, as well as trait emotional distress. We focused on context-independent measures of irrational beliefs and emotional distress in the absence of a stressor. As expected, the relationship between COMT Val158Met and irrational beliefs depended on the level of emotional distress (f2 = .314). The COMT Val158Met–irrationality association was significant only when individuals fell in the average to above average range of emotional distress. Furthermore, within this range the Met allele seemed to relate to higher irrational beliefs.

These results were significant for overall irrational beliefs and its subtypes, but not for rational beliefs, the functional counterpart of irrationality. In light of the study’s limitations, the results should be considered as preliminary. If replicable, these findings have potential implications for therapygenetics, changing the view that COMT Val158Met might be of greater relevance when treatment modality does not rely on cognitive variables.

Section snippets

Biological Underpinnings of Maladaptive Beliefs

It has been speculated that irrational beliefs have a biological basis since the 1970s (Ellis, 1976). For instance, there is preliminary evidence suggesting a connection between the neural mechanisms underlying specific irrational beliefs (Cristea et al., 2011) and self-mentalizing areas of the brain. However, while these studies are important to understand the biological basis (i.e., neural implementation) of irrational beliefs, there is no study that investigates the biological underpinnings

Participants

We recruited 267 Caucasian volunteers (age: M = 23.112 years, SD = 5.040, 81.273 % women).1 Participants had the following genotype frequencies: 0.270, Met/Met (N = 71); 0.440, Val/Met (N = 119); 0.290, Val/Val (N = 77), which were similar to the ones that were reported for Caucasians by Henderson et al.

Procedure

The current study had a cross-sectional design. Its procedure entailed (a) receiving an informed consent, (b) genotyping, and (c) filling in BDI-II and STAI-X2 measures of general emotional distress alongside the ABS-II scale, which assessed general/core rational and irrational beliefs. We focused on context-independent measures of cognitive vulnerability and emotional distress, meaning that no stressor was induced to trigger maladaptive beliefs.

Descriptive Analyses

Table 1 displays the intercorrelations among the dimensional variables. Mean scores for depression and anxiety (i.e., emotional distress), overall rationality, overall irrationality, as well as irrationality subscales are presented in Table 2, split by genotype.

The remaining preliminary analyses are split into demographics and emotional distress categories, as in the following paragraphs.

Discussion

First, the current study aimed to investigate the relationship between COMT Val158Met and overall irrationality. The results supported our hypotheses, in that COMT Val158Met was indeed associated with overall irrationality. This result is in line with speculations regarding biological predispositions to irrational beliefs dating back to 1976 (Ellis, 1976). Similarly, the results relate to the importance allocated by Beck in his generic cognitive model of psychopathology, where he suggests that

Conflict of Interest Statement

The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest.

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    This work was possible due to the financial support of the Sectorial Operational Program for Human Resources Development 2007-2013, co-financed by the European Social Fund, under the project number POSDRU/159/1.5/S/132400, "Young Successful Researchers—Professional Development in an International and Interdisciplinary Environment.” The authors would also like to thank Mirela Mohan for proofreading this paper.

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