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Self-compassion and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex activity during sad self-face recognition in depressed adolescents

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 July 2020

Guanmin Liu Open the ORCID record for Guanmin Liu [Opens in a new window] ,
Na Zhang ,
Jia Yuan Teoh ,
Christine Egan ,
Thomas A. Zeffiro ,
Richard J. Davidson  and
Karina Quevedo
Guanmin Liu
Affiliation:
Center for Healthy Minds, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI53703, USA Department of Psychiatry, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN55454, USA
Na Zhang
Affiliation:
Department of Human Development and Family Sciences, University of Connecticut, Stamford, CT06901, USA
Jia Yuan Teoh
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN55454, USA
Christine Egan
Affiliation:
Department of Neuroscience, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN55455, USA
Thomas A. Zeffiro
Affiliation:
University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD21201, USA
Richard J. Davidson
Affiliation:
Center for Healthy Minds, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI53703, USA Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI53706, USA Waisman Laboratory for Brain Imaging and Behavior, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI53705, USA Department of Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI53719, USA
Karina Quevedo*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN55454, USA
*
Author for correspondence: Karina Quevedo, E-mail: queve001@umn.edu
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Abstract

Background

Given the prevalence of adolescent depression and the modest effects of current treatments, research ought to inform development of effective intervention strategies. Self-compassion is inversely associated with depression, and self-compassion interventions have demonstrated promising effects on reducing depression. However, little is known about the neural mechanisms underlying that relationship. Maladaptive self-processing is a characteristic of depression that contributes to the onset and chronicity of depression. Because our own face is an automatic and direct cue for self-processing, this study investigated whether self-compassion was associated with neural responses during sad v. neutral self-face recognition and explore their relationship with depression severity in depressed adolescents and healthy controls (HCs).

Methods

During functional magnetic resonance imaging, 81 depressed youth and 37 HCs were instructed to identify whether morphed self or other faces with sad, happy, or neutral expressions resembled their own.

Results

Self-compassion correlated negatively with activity during sad v. neutral self-face recognition in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex in the total sample, and in the right posterior cingulate cortex/precuneus in HCs, respectively. In depressed adolescents, higher self-compassion correlated with lower activity during sad v. neutral self-face recognition in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), implying that less cognitive effort might be needed to avoid dwelling on sad self-faces and/or regulate negative affect induced by them. Moreover, higher self-compassion mediated the relationship between lower DLPFC activity and reduced depression severity.

Conclusions

Our findings imply that DLPFC activity might be a biological marker of a successful self-compassion intervention as potential treatment for adolescent depression.

Keywords

AdolescencedepressionfMRIself-compassionself-processing
Type
Original Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 52 , Issue 5 , April 2022 , pp. 864 - 873
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

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