Negative symptoms and depression predict lower psychological well-being in individuals with schizophrenia.

Previous studies have demonstrated that negative symptoms are linked to lower rates of recovery in individuals with schizophrenia when recovery is defined objectively in terms of symptom remission, vocational outcome, and social functioning. In the current study, we followed up these prior investigations by examining the other aspect of recovery, the subjective component, to determine whether negative symptoms predict lower self-reported well-being. Participants included 56 individuals with schizophrenia and 33 controls who completed self-report measures of psychological, social, and emotional well-being. Individuals with schizophrenia also completed a battery of symptom measures. Results indicated that individuals with schizophrenia self-reported lower psychological well-being than controls in relation to all 6 domains assessed: autonomy, environmental mastery, personal growth, positive relations with others, purpose in life, and self-acceptance. However, there were no differences between groups on global self-reported emotional or social well-being. In addition, negative symptoms and depression were found to be significant predictors of psychological well-being among individuals with schizophrenia. These findings indicate that lower psychological well-being may be characteristic of individuals in the chronic phase of schizophrenia, particularly those with negative symptoms and/or depression. Implications for recovery-focused psychosocial programs are discussed.

Depressed mood and emotional responding.

The current study examined emotional responding in a sample of 57 college students who varied in depression symptom scores. Participants viewed pleasant, unpleasant and neutral emotional-eliciting pictures. Response measures included autonomic activity, subjective report of emotion, eyeblink startle reflex, and postauricular reflex. Findings indicated that greater depression symptoms predicted blunted responding with the postauricular reflex and eyeblink startle reflex measures. However, greater depression symptoms were not associated with blunted or heightened responding as indexed by the autonomic reactivity and self-report measures. Taken together, these results suggest that depression may be associated with both appetitive and defensive responding deficits, which has important implications for emotional responding. The findings underscore the importance of using multiple measures when investigating emotional responding associated with depression.

Measuring appetitive responding with the postauricular reflex.

Recent research has provided evidence that the postauricular reflex (PAR) is potentiated while people view pleasant images relative to unpleasant and neutral images. The present study sought to extend these findings by investigating whether the PAR is more robustly modulated by the appetitive salience of the stimuli. Eyeblink startle and PAR responses of 51 participants were recorded while they viewed images that varied in valence and thematic content. Participants displayed significantly greater mean PAR magnitude during appetitive-related images (e.g., food, erotica, families) compared with non-appetitive-related pleasant images. These findings support the contention that the PAR is a useful tool for measuring appetitive responding in humans.

Gender differences in depression.

Depression is among the most prevalent and debilitating psychiatric disorders in the world. A striking feature of this disorder is that women are twice as likely to experience depression compared with men. Research indicates that genetic, biological and environmental factors contribute to the gender differences noted in depression. Women are more likely to suffer a greater number of and more severe stressful life events compared with men, although no gender difference has been found to explain the genetic vulnerability. As individuals with depression most frequently present to general practitioners, healthcare providers should consider screening for depression and using rigorous treatment strategies for depressed patients with comorbid medical illnesses.