Brains of teens with depression remain on high alert to social rejection
Teens with depression show unique brain patterns when facing social rejection. A recent brain imaging study reveals that their amygdala fails to adapt to repeated social threats, keeping them on high alert during difficult peer interactions.
A recent study published in the Journal of Affective Disorders has found that adolescent girls with major depressive disorder display atypical brain responses when anticipating social rejection. These patterns suggest that depression alters social learning on a neurological level, keeping the brain on high alert in challenging peer interactions.
The research, conducted by a team of psychologists led by Michele Morningstar at Queen’s University, involved 76 girls aged 10 to 17, divided into three groups: those diagnosed with major depressive disorder, those with a familial risk for depression, and a low-risk control group with neither personal nor familial history of depression.
Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, the researchers observed the participants' brain activity during a specialized behavioral experiment called the Chatroom Interact task. In this task, participants were virtually connected to a chatroom with two simulated peers, one programmed to reject them 67% of the time while the other was neutral.
The findings indicate that the amygdala, a brain structure involved in detecting emotionally salient information and potential threats, fails to habituate to the anticipation of rejection in girls with depression, keeping their brain on high alert during peer interactions.
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