Reduced Social Connectedness and Compassion Toward Close Others in Patients With Chronic Depression Compared to a Non-clinical Sample.
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SUBMITTER: Frick A
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8012512 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:ObjectivesThe last 20 years have seen considerable research on the nature and biopsychosocial impacts of compassion training on self and others. This training is usually focused on calming and slowing the mind and body and on individual imagery practices and mantras. This study explored the effects of three variations: 1. The impact of using energizing music to generate activation and "drive" for compassion; 2. To focus on imagining "breathing in and breathing out a white light or mist of compassion" to bring compassion to the world; and 3. While listening to energizing music, participants were guided to imagining connecting to the compassion (Sangha) community, imagining oneself as linking with others as part of communities seeking to help the world.MethodsFrom approximately 1,600 members of the Compassionate Mind discussion list, participants were invited to take part in a new energizing focused self-practice study. The study involved listening to recorded guidance on the evolutionary model of compassion and the need to address the potentially harmful side of our nature. This was followed by a 4 1/2-min tonglen-informed guided practice of breathing in and breathing out compassion accompanied by energizing music. Forty-three participants completed several self-report scales measuring compassion orientation, wellbeing, social safeness, and positive affect before and following 2 weeks of practice. Participant experiences were recorded from 6 open explorative questions.ResultsSelf-report measures taken before and following 2 weeks of practice revealed significant increases in self-compassion, compassion to others, openness to compassion from others, activated positive affect, safe positive affect, social safeness, and wellbeing, with the largest effect size relating to compassion for the self (d = -0.76). In addition, qualitative data revealed that the participants had experienced the practice as energizing, inspiring, and felt socially connected and that it had significant impacts on other aspects of their lives. Some participants noted that engaging with suffering also stimulated sadness.ConclusionThis study found that pairing energizing music with breathing practices and specific compassion visualizations, focusing on the desire to bring compassion to the world and be part of a compassionate community, was well-accepted and had a range of significant positive impacts. This study indicates the potential value of exploring energizing in comparison to the more standard soothing and settling practices as ways of stimulating the biopsychosocial processes of compassion.
| S-EPMC10586219 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Close social bonds are critical to immediate and long-term well-being. However, the neurochemical mechanisms by which we remain connected to our closest loved ones are not well understood. Opioids have long been theorized to contribute to social bonding via their actions on the brain. But feelings of social connection toward one's own close others and direct comparisons of ventral striatum (VS) activity in response to close others and strangers, a neural correlate of social bonding, have not been explored. Therefore, the current clinical trial examined whether opioids causally affect neural and experiential signatures of social bonding. Eighty participants were administered naltrexone (n = 40), an opioid antagonist that blocks natural opioid processing, or placebo (n = 40) before completing a functional MRI scan where they viewed images of their close others and individuals they had not seen before (i.e., strangers). Feelings of social connection to the close others and physical symptoms commonly experienced when taking naltrexone were also collected. In support of hypotheses, naltrexone (vs. placebo) reduced feelings of social connection toward the close others (e.g., family, friends, romantic partners). Furthermore, naltrexone (vs. placebo) reduced left VS activity in response to images of the same close others, but did not alter left VS activity to strangers. Finally, the positive correlation between feelings of connection and VS activity to close others present in the placebo condition was erased by naltrexone. Effects remained after adjusting for physical symptoms. Together, results lend support to theories suggesting that opioids contribute to social bonding, especially with our closest loved ones. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).
| S-EPMC7021584 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Evolutionary models of depression posit that depressed mood represents an adaptive response to unacceptably low social status, motivating the inhibition of social risk-taking in favor of submissive behaviors which reduce the likelihood of social exclusion. We tested the hypothesis of reduced social risk taking using a novel adaptation of the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART) in participants with major depressive disorder (MDD; n = 27) and never-depressed comparison participants (n = 35). The BART requires participants to pump up virtual balloons. The more the balloon is pumped up, the more money a participant gains on that trial. However, more pumps also increase the risk the balloon will burst such that all money is lost. Prior to performing the BART, participants took part in a team induction in small groups in order to prime social-group membership. Participants then completed two conditions of the BART: an Individual condition where they risked only their own money, and a Social condition, where they risked the money of their social group. The groups did not differ in their performance in the individual condition (Cohen's d = 0.07). However, the MDD group risked fewer pumps in the Social condition than the never-depressed group (d = 0.57). The study supports the notion of an aversion to social risk-taking in depression. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).
| S-EPMC9940639 | biostudies-literature
Project description:RationaleA general feeling of disconnection has been associated with mental and emotional suffering. Improvements to a sense of connectedness to self, others and the wider world have been reported by participants in clinical trials of psychedelic therapy. Such accounts have led us to a definition of the psychological construct of 'connectedness' as 'a state of feeling connected to self, others and the wider world'. Existing tools for measuring connectedness have focused on particular aspects of connectedness, such as 'social connectedness' or 'nature connectedness', which we hypothesise to be different expressions of a common factor of connectedness. Here, we sought to develop a new scale to measure connectedness as a construct with these multiple domains. We hypothesised that (1) our scale would measure three separable subscale factors pertaining to a felt connection to 'self', 'others' and 'world' and (2) improvements in total and subscale WCS scores would correlate with improved mental health outcomes post psychedelic use.ObjectivesTo validate and test the 'Watts Connectedness Scale' (WCS).MethodsPsychometric validation of the WCS was carried out using data from three independent studies. Firstly, we pooled data from two prospective observational online survey studies. The WCS was completed before and after a planned psychedelic experience. The total sample of completers from the online surveys was N = 1226. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis were performed, and construct and criterion validity were tested. A third dataset was derived from a double-blind randomised controlled trial (RCT) comparing psilocybin-assisted therapy (n = 27) with 6 weeks of daily escitalopram (n = 25) for major depressive disorder (MDD), where the WCS was completed at baseline and at a 6-week primary endpoint.ResultsAs hypothesised, factor analysis of all WCS items revealed three main factors with good internal consistency. WCS showed good construct validity. Significant post-psychedelic increases were observed for total connectedness scores (η2 = 0.339, p < 0.0001), as well as on each of its subscales (p < 0.0001). Acute measures of 'mystical experience', 'emotional breakthrough', and 'communitas' correlated positively with post-psychedelic changes in connectedness (r = 0.42, r = 0.38, r = 0.42, respectively, p < 0.0001). In the RCT, psilocybin therapy was associated with greater increases in WCS scores compared with the escitalopram arm (ηp2 = 0.133, p = 0.009).ConclusionsThe WCS is a new 3-dimensional index of felt connectedness that may sensitively measure therapeutically relevant psychological changes post-psychedelic use. We believe that the operational definition of connectedness captured by the WCS may have broad relevance in mental health research.
| S-EPMC9358368 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Compassion meditation (CM) is a promising intervention for enhancing compassion, although its active ingredients and neurobiological mechanisms are not well-understood. To investigate these, we conducted a three-armed placebo-controlled randomized trial (N = 57) with longitudinal functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). We compared a 4-week CM program delivered by smartphone application with (i) a placebo condition, presented to participants as the compassion-enhancing hormone oxytocin, and (ii) a condition designed to control for increased familiarity with suffering others, an element of CM which may promote compassion. At pre- and post-intervention, participants listened to compassion-eliciting narratives describing suffering others during fMRI. CM increased brain responses to suffering others in the medial orbitofrontal cortex (mOFC) relative to the familiarity condition, p < 0.05 family-wise error rate corrected. Among CM participants, individual differences in increased mOFC responses positively correlated with increased compassion-related feelings and attributions, r = 0.50, p = 0.04. Relative to placebo, the CM group exhibited a similar increase in mOFC activity at an uncorrected threshold of P < 0.001 and 10 contiguous voxels. We conclude that the mOFC, a region closely related to affiliative affect and motivation, is an important brain mechanism of CM. Effects of CM on mOFC function are not explained by familiarity effects and are partly explained by placebo effects.
| S-EPMC8483284 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundThe close others (e.g., family members, romantic partners) of people with anxiety and related disorders are typically involved in their treatment decisions. However, we know little about close others' attitudes towards and concerns about their loved one starting cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT).MethodsStudy one surveyed close others of those with anxiety and related disorders (n = 33) about their concerns about their loved one starting CBT. Thematic coding was completed, and items were developed to reflect these themes, comprising a measure of treatment concerns in close others. Study two involved the administration of the novel measure to a larger sample (n = 287) to evaluate its structure, reliability, and validity.ResultsClose others endorsed having treatment concerns of moderate intensity. The final 17-item measure, the Treatment Concerns Questionnaire-Close Others (TCQ-C), has a robust four-factor structure, with internally consistent subscales including "Adverse Reactions", "Personal/Family Consequences", "Lack of Commitment", and "Ineffectiveness". The measure shows moderate correlations with treatment expectations (convergent validity) and small correlations with respondent distress (discriminant validity).ConclusionsThe value of this measure for clinicians and future directions for research are discussed.Supplementary informationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10608-022-10318-9.
| S-EPMC9295086 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Previous research showed that the ability to make inferences about our own and other's mental states rely on common brain pathways; particularly in the case of close relationships (e.g., romantic relationships). Despite the evidence for shared neural representations of self and others, less is known about the distributed processing within these common neural networks, particularly whether there are specific patterns of internode communication when focusing on other vs. self. This study aimed to characterize context-sensitive coupling among social brain regions involved in self and other understanding. Participants underwent an fMRI while watching emotional video vignettes of their romantic partner and elaborated on their partner's (other-condition) or on their own experience (self-condition). We used dynamic causal modeling (DCM) to quantify the associated changes in effective connectivity (EC) in a network of brain regions involved in social cognition including the temporoparietal junction (TPJ), the posterior cingulate (PCC)/precuneus and middle temporal gyrus (MTG). DCM revealed that: the PCC plays a central coordination role within this network, the bilateral MTG receives driving inputs from other nodes suggesting that social information is first processed in language comprehension regions; the right TPJ evidenced a selective increase in its sensitivity when focusing on the other's experience, relative to focusing on oneself.
| S-EPMC7202326 | biostudies-literature
Project description:PURPOSE:Our study explored whether aspects of veterans' social connectedness (social support, interpersonal conflict, loneliness, social norms, number of confidants) are associated with change in their depression symptoms and health services utilization over 1 year. METHODS:We conducted a prospective, longitudinal study of 262 military veterans who obtained primary care and other services at a Veterans Health Administration (VHA) facility and screened positive for depression. Participants completed surveys at baseline and 12-month follow-up. We measured social connectedness variables using the NIH Toolbox Adult Social Relationship Scales. We used the Patient Health Questionnaire to assess depression symptoms and suicidal ideation and administrative medical record data for health services utilization. We calculated change scores to model outcomes over time using multivariable regressions. RESULTS:We found that higher levels of baseline loneliness were associated with decreased depression severity over 1 year (B?=?-?1.55, 95% CI [-?2.53, -?.56], p?<?.01). We found a similar association for suicidal ideation. In contrast, higher baseline number of confidants was associated with increased depression (B?=?.55, 95% CI [.18, .92], p?<?.01). Higher levels of emotional support were associated with decreased mental health visits (B?=?-?3.88, 95% CI [-?6.80, -?.96], p?<?.01). No significant associations were found between social connectedness variables and primary care visits. CONCLUSIONS:Emotional support may play an important role in reducing mental health treatment utilization among VHA-using veterans. Additional investigation as to how and why loneliness and number of confidants might be paradoxically associated with depression symptoms remains necessary.
| S-EPMC7304483 | biostudies-literature
Project description:ObjectiveTo evaluate PEARLS effectiveness for increasing social connectedness among underserved older adults with depression.DesignMultisite, pre-post single-group evaluation.SettingCommunity-based social service organizations (N = 16) in five U.S. states, purposively sampled for maximum variation of participants and providers.ParticipantsA total of 320 homebound older adults (mean(SD) age 72.9(9.6), 79% female, 44% people of color, 81% low-income, 61% living alone, average four chronic conditions) with clinically significant depression (PHQ-9 mean(SD) 12.7(4.6)).InterventionFour to 6 month home-based depression care management model delivered by trained front-line providers.MeasurementsBrief validated social connectedness scales: Duke Social Support Index 10-item (DSSI-10), PROMIS-Social Isolation (6-item), UCLA-Loneliness (3-item); sociodemographic and health measures.ResultsAt baseline, PEARLS participants overall and with ≥1 of the following characteristics were less socially connected: younger (50-64), white, LGBTQ+, not partnered, not caregiving, living alone, financial limitations, chronic conditions, and/or recently hospitalized. Six-months post-PEARLS enrollment, participants significantly increased social interactions and satisfaction with social support (DSSI-10 t[312] = 5.2, p <0.001); and reduced perceived isolation (PROMIS t[310] = 6.3, p <0.001); and loneliness (UCLA t[301] = 3.7, p =0.002), with small to moderate effect sizes (Cohen's d DSSI-10: 0.28, PROMIS-SI: 0.35, UCLA: 0.21). Increased social connectedness was associated with reduced depression. Improvements in social connectedness (except social interactions) persisted during early COVID-19. Being Latino and/or having difficulty paying for basic needs was associated with less improvement in post-PEARLS social connectedness.ConclusionPEARLS has potential to improve social connectedness among underserved older adults, though additional supports may be needed for persons facing multiple social determinants of health. Further research is needed to establish causality.
| S-EPMC7564120 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundSocial connections are crucial for our health and well-being. This is especially true during times of high uncertainty and distress, such as during the COVID-19 lockdown. This period was characterized by unprecedented physical distancing (often communicated as social distancing) measures resulting in significant changes to people's usual social lives. Given the potential effects of this disruption on people's well-being, it is crucial to identify factors which are associated with negative health outcomes, and conversely, those that promote resilience during times of adversity.AimsWe examined the relationship between individuals' levels of social connectedness during lockdown and self-reported stress, worry, and fatigue.MethodSurvey data were collected from 981 individuals in a representative sample of Austrian citizens. Data collection occurred during the last week of a six-week nationwide lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The final sample consisted of 902 participants. Participants were asked to complete validated questionnaires to assess levels of social connectedness as well as measures of perceived stress, worry-both general and COVID-19 specific-and symptoms of fatigue during the previous two weeks.ResultsOur results demonstrate that greater social connectedness during the lockdown period was associated with lower levels of perceived stress, as well as general and COVID-19-specific worries. Furthermore, we found a negative relationship between fatigue and social connectedness, which was mediated by feelings of stress, general worries, and COVID-19-specific worries-respectively, indicating that individuals with smaller network sizes, who were highly distressed during the pandemic, were also likely to report feeling more fatigued.ConclusionOur findings highlight the important role that social connections play in promoting resilience by buffering against negative physical and mental health outcomes, particularly in times of adversity in times of adversity.
| S-EPMC8247344 | biostudies-literature