Vulnerability to Depression in Youth: Advances From Affective Neuroscience

Depression is one of the most common psychiatric disorders to date. In the U.S. alone rates of depression have risen from 6.6 percent in 2005 to 7.3 percent in 2015. The Most significant findings of this increase over the span of those 10 years is the rise in adolescents and young adults. People aged 12 to 17 saw an increase from 8.7 percent to 12.7 percent from 2005 to 2015. With this knowledge in mind Kujawa and Burkhouse began to investigate further about the vulnerability of adolescents to depression and tried to find tests to find attributes that were present in youth that increased the development of depression. 

This study took into account family history, child’s temperament, as well as different affective neuroscience tests to identify what attributes made youth higher at risk and what increased their likelihood of developing depression. In order to get the best results they used both high and low risk youth. They deemed that children with a history of depression in their family we’re at higher risk than those whose family had no prior history of depression. Other indicators of depression development in youth are negative and positive emotionality. It is found that for negative emotionality which is characterized by sadness,irritability and anxiety tends to be the greater indicator of the two. While positive emotionality which is characterized by positive affect, sociability and appetitive behavior was shown to be less indicative of depression development. This study found that high risk youth demonstrated an altered neural response to both negative and positive stimuli. It is important to note that these were observed prior to the onset of the disorder. In addition evidence showed that youth’s depression risk was defined by deficits in approach motivation and positive valence systems, which includes reduced ERP and striatal responses to reward. This in combination with blunted emotional responses may act as a vulnerability for depression especially when in combination with life stress, increased tendency to withdraw and failure to readjust behavior in order to increase positive reinforcement.

Lastly it was observed that those at higher risk showed blunted reactivity to negative images and emotional disengagement. In addition to this, those at high risk showed greater amygdala activity when presented with threatening emotional faces. 

While there is an exorbitant amount of research into what may be a predictor of depression onset there has not been many efficacious studies into preventions or treatments of depression. Currently, even the drug therapies on the market are not as efficacious in the treatment of depression. This becomes especially true in regards to youth and young adults. Dr. Lauren Shapiro who presented her research on the possibility of inhibiting ROCK as a form of antidepressant treatment in yout, discussed this fact in greater detail. She mentioned that most if not all current drug therapies (especially SSRIs) are cautiously given to youth and young adults, anyone under the age of 25, because they have been shown to increase the symptoms of depression such as suicidal ideations and negative mood. This is one of the reasons she listed as to why she began doing research into ROCK inhibition in adolescent mice. Although her research was only founded on efficacy in mice there was evidence that suggests it may have similar effects in humans. 

It is important to be aware of what may predispose adolescents to the onset of depression as demonstrated by the research done by Kujawa and Burkhouse. But as Dr. Shapiro said we need to use this research to conduct more research into the development of efficacious prevention and drug therapies. Now that adolescent depression is on the rise, preventative measures should be included in youth health. It is pertinent that medical doctors include at risk questionnaires/intakes as well as provide information to the child’s parents on what signs to watch for and what they can do to help their child develop emotionally healthy behaviors. Along with giving young adults resources and access to screenings for the presence of depression. While neurological clinical trials have not been invested in as of late because of their low efficacy it is important that something be done to reduce the rate of depression. Especially because of the proportional relationship between depression and suicide. As the depression rates rise in the youth and young adult so does that of the suicide rates.

Works Cited 

Kujawa, A., & Burkhouse, K. (2017). Vulnerability to Depression in Youth: Advances from Affective Neuroscience. Biological Psychiatry. Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, 2(1), 28-37.

Shapiro, L., Kietzman, H., Guo, J., Rainnie, D., & Gourley, S. (2018). Rho-kinase inhibition has antidepressant-like efficacy and expedites dendritic spine pruning in adolescent mice. Neurobiology of Disease, 124, 520-530.