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. 2020:5:e200007.
doi: 10.20900/jpbs.20200007. Epub 2020 Apr 17.

An Examination of Psychomotor Disturbance in Current and Remitted MDD: An RDoC Study

Stewart A Shankman  1   2 , Vijay A Mittal  1   2 , Sebastian Walther  3
Affiliations

An Examination of Psychomotor Disturbance in Current and Remitted MDD: An RDoC Study

Stewart A Shankman et al. J Psychiatr Brain Sci. 2020.

Abstract

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a serious public health problem that has, at best, modest treatment response-potentially due to its heterogeneous clinical presentation. One way to parse the heterogeneity is to investigate the role of particular features of MDD, an endeavor that can also help identify novel and focal targets for treatment and prevention efforts. Our R01 focuses on the feature of psychomotor disturbance (e.g., psychomotor agitation (PmA) and retardation (PmR)), a particularly pernicious feature of MDD, that has not been examined extensively in MDD. Aim 1 is comparing three groups of individuals-those with current MDD (n = 100), remitted MDD (n = 100), and controls (n = 50)-on multiple measures of PmR and PmA (assessed both in the lab and in the subjects' natural environment). Aim 2 is examining the structural (diffusion MRI) and functional (resting state fMRI) connectivity of motor circuitry of the three groups as well as the relation between motor circuitry and the proposed indicators of PmR and PmA. Aim 3 is following up with subjects three times over 18 months to evaluate whether motor symptoms change in tandem with overall depressive symptoms and functioning over time and/or whether baseline PmR/PmA predicts course of depression and functioning. Aim 3 is particularly clinically significant. Finding that motor functioning and overall depression severity co-vary over time, or that motor variables predict subsequent change in overall depression severity, would support the potential clinical utility of these novel, reliable, and easily administered motor assessments.

Keywords: major depressive disorder; psychomotor agitation; psychomotor retardation; remitted depression.

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Conflict of interest statement

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Actigraphy levels in current (N = 22) and remitted MDD (N = 11).
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Actigraphy levels relates with Salpêtrière Retardation Scale (N = 9).
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Resting state fMRI analysis showing positive (red) and negative (blue) correlations with Force Variability (top) and Velocity Scaling (bottom). (Corrected to a voxel level of p < 0.001 and cluster level p[FDR] < 0.05).
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Loops from a 4 cm trial. These will be compared with those from a 2 cm trial to calculate a VS ratio (an indicator of PmR).
Figure 5.
Figure 5.
Regions in the motor network to be used for graph theory analysis. Top = left & right hemispheres; Bottom = superior view.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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