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. 2020 Aug 5;10(8):519.
doi: 10.3390/brainsci10080519.

Hopelessness, Dissociative Symptoms, and Suicide Risk in Major Depressive Disorder: Clinical and Biological Correlates

Mauro Pettorruso  1 , Giacomo d'Andrea  1 , Giovanni Martinotti  1   2 , Fabrizio Cocciolillo  3   4 , Andrea Miuli  1 , Ilenia Di Muzio  1 , Rebecca Collevecchio  1 , Valeria Verrastro  5 , Fabio De-Giorgio  6 , Luigi Janiri  7   8 , Massimo di Giannantonio  1 , Daniela Di Giuda  3   4 , Giovanni Camardese  7   8
Affiliations

Hopelessness, Dissociative Symptoms, and Suicide Risk in Major Depressive Disorder: Clinical and Biological Correlates

Mauro Pettorruso et al. Brain Sci. .

Abstract

Background: Major depressive disorder (MDD) has different clinical presentations and is associated with neurobiological alterations. Hopelessness, anhedonia, and dissociation represent some of the most pervasive psychopathological symptoms that often lead to suicidal thoughts, attempts, and actions. To further research on the concept of depression endophenotypes, this study aimed to assess the possible relationships between hopelessness and other clinical and biological correlates (i.e., striatal dopaminergic dysfunction) in depressed patients. Methods: We recruited 51 subjects with MDD. All subjects underwent 123I-FP-CIT SPECT to assess striatal dopamine transporter (DAT) availability and a psychometric evaluation using the psychometric scale to assess depressive, anxious, dissociative, and hopelessness symptoms aside from suicidal ideation. Result: An inverse correlation between the hopelessness score and dopamine transporter availability in all basal ganglia was bilaterally found. (Right Putamen, r = -0.445, p < 0.01; Left Putamen, r = -0.454, p < 0.01; Right Caudate, r = -0.398, p < 0.01; Left Caudate, r = -0.467, p < 0.01) Moreover, a positive correlation was also found between hopelessness and dissociative symptoms. Conclusions: These results provide important evidence on the neurobiological and clinical correlates of different psychopathological symptoms of depression with potential implications in terms of devising more effective treatment programs.

Keywords: DaTSCAN; basal ganglia; dissociation; dopamine transporter; mood disorders; suicidality.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest to disclose.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Correlations between hopelessness and dopamine transporter. (a): Correlation between hopelessness and right putamen. (b): Correlation between hopelessness and right caudate. (c): Correlation between hopelessness and right striatum. (d): Correlation between hopelessness and left putamen. (e): correlation between hopelessness and left caudate. (f): Correlation between hopelessness and left striatum. The correlation coefficients and p-values are reported for each plot.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Correlations between hopelessness and dissociation.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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