Depression, a debilitating mental disorder, is
characterized by quite a few common symptoms most individuals can connect to
it, including anger, guilt, fear, sadness, etc. These are all symptoms that one
would classify as negative affect. Our classification of depression consists
primarily of negative affect symptoms, but there are some symptoms that are a
result of the absence of certain emotions rather than the presence of negative
ones. These are called positive affect symptoms and are being measured in
determining how they coincide with someone’s increased risk for a depressive
episode.
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| Distinguishing characteristics between negative and positive affect |
Dr. Silton of Loyola University Chicago discussed with
us her current research on how low positive affect is a precursor for major
depressive episodes in certain individuals. Her study measured how low positive
affect caused an increase in alpha compared to a control where low positive
affect was not measured. This increase in alpha is correlated with depression in
individuals, and this study happened to be one of the first to explore low
positive affect and its connection with depression.
Similar studies are being conducted to measure how low
positive affect contributes to depression, but now observing other variables as
well in relation to these. For example, a study was conducted on how measuring
hypotension versus hypertension in individuals with depression coincided with
their high negative or low positive affect. Their studies showed that diastolic
hypotension correlated with low positive affect and therefore led to depression.
Another study correlated how positive affect might better explain the reason
behind a child or adolescent individual’s depression and their functional
impairments. Their struggle with this study however, was understanding if the reason
behind the change in daily activities for their participants were because of
increased negative affect or decreased positive affect. They focused on the
positive affect symptoms and possible treatments to combat these issues in children
and adolescents struggling with depression.
Overall, the correlation between
positive affect and depression is seen quite rarely in neuroscience studies due
to the focus on negative affect. Albeit so, current studies are beginning to
see a correlation among positive affect and how it affects depression, and are
deciding to uncover what may be occurring simultaneously with increased
negative affect in a depressed individual, or one in remission. As Dr. Silton
stated in her lecture – and paraphrased from Mr. Solomon’s TED talk – his
belief is that “depression is not the opposite of happiness, but rather
vitality”, and studies currently are examining this notion in depressed
individuals on positive affect to uncover its connection and quite possibly
return “vitality” back to them.
Sources:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2129134/
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