Emotion recognition in chronic treatment-resistant depression : before and after neurosurgical treatment
Year: 2013
Type: dissertation
Abstract: The neuroanatomical structures underlying Major Depressive \nDisorder (MDD) are not fully understood. Invasive treatment options \nnow exist that target the brain structures associated with MDD. \nIn part one of this study, the effects of MDD on emotion \nprocessing are being measured and discussed. Emotion processing \nwas examined in patients with chronic, treatment resistant \ndepression (n = 15) and a healthy control group (n = 38). Emotion \nprocessing abilities were impaired in the MDD group, especially \nthose of disgust recognition. \nIn part two, seven of the fifteen MDD patients that had received \nan Anterior Cingulotomy (ACING) and eight of the fifteen MDD \npatients that had received a Vagus Nerve Stimulation (VNS) as an \nintervention for chronic, treatment resistant depression were \npresented with the same series of emotional processing tasks given \nin part one. Their post surgical performance was compared with their \npre surgical performance. After surgery, the ACING group showed \ndecreased emotion processing abilities and the VNS group showed \nimprovements. \nFindings suggest that emotional functions assumed to be \nassociated with certain neural structures that are adversely affected \nin patients with MDD may be responsible for some of the clinical \nfeatures of MDD.
Author: Frazer Alexander Lockhart Grant
Language: English
Subfield: Pharmacology (medical)
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1553984379