“Decision Making in Young People at Familial Risk of Depression” Journal Review

Opening

            The lack of interest and pleasure (Anhedonia) are the cardinal symptoms of major depression and are generally used as an indication of abnormalities in reward systems. Although anhedonia symptoms starts to remit along with depression, it’s suggested that the neurobiological mechanisms which causes anhedonia could represent endophenotype kind of depression that might manifest in a change of behavior and neural changes outside of acute depressive episodes. Young people with no history of depression but at increased familial risk also have impaired neural processing of reward, particularly affecting the orbitofrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex. These cortical areas are known to be involved in reward-based learning.

Studies in adult patients with major depression have shown impaired decision making on reward-based task. This is also found in young children around the age of 10-11 years. This observation is consistent with a recent study using Cambridge Gambling Task (CGT). The goal of this research is to compare the differences in decision making between young people who are at familial risk and a control group who are not at risk.

Discussion

            In the study, 63 young people between the age of 16 to 20 years were recruited, with the mean age of 18.9 ±1.0 years, consisted of 39 women and 24 men. The participants does not have the risk of depression but has parents with a history of depression (FH+). In the study they are tested using SCID-I to ensure there are no personal history of depression, and the presence of major depression in a parent was assessed by the family history method using the participant as an informant. The criteria used included description of the symptoms of major depression together with the prescription of specific antidepressant treatment. This was followed up by direct verification from the affected parent (either by telephone or in writing); where parental history could not be verified, participants were excluded.

The research is done using the CGT which analyzes decision making and risk-taking behavior. The participants are shown 10 red boxes and blue boxes on top of a screen. The ratio of red to blue boxes varies between 9:1, 8:2, 7:3, 6:4 and 5:5, and vice versa in a random order. Participants are informed that a yellow token is hidden inside one of the boxes and are asked to indicate in which color box is the token most likely to be hidden, by pressing the color (RED or BLUE button). Then they are asked to gamble the points that they have from a total of 100 points for their choice. This shows how confident they are in their answers and how willing they are to risk the points that they have for a chance at a greater reward.

From the results of the study, there were no group differences of mood and anxiety states. There were group differences in IQ, which was subsequently used as a covariate. CGT performance did not differ significantly between FH+ and control participants. However, there was a significant group difference in risk taking with the FH+ participants taking fewer risks irrespective of how high or low the probability was of a favorable outcome.

Opinion

            The research about risk-taking in participants with parents who has a history of depression is interesting. From the results we can see that although the participants themselves didn’t have a personal history of depression, the FH+ group tends to take less risks compared to the control group.

From the research data itself, someone with a familial risk of depression will affect their risk-taking decisions. The study itself was done in an interesting fashion, the use of the CGT certainly helped with the data gathering, and the process of the experiment itself proved to be intriguing.

Summary

            The research about familial risk of depression is focused primarily towards young people. The study itself was done with willing participants that were divided between two groups, the FH+ group and the control group. The FH+ group being the group parents who had a history with depression, while the control group does not.

The study was done using the CGT (Cambridge Gambling Task) and focuses on taking data about the individual’s risk- taking behavior while also gathering some additional data in the process. Risk-taking behavior was measured using 10 red and blue boxes, in which one of them contained a yellow token. The participants were asked to choose which color they thought might contain the yellow token while also gambling their provided points in their decision to have a chance at a greater reward.

The results has shown that there are significant differences in risk-taking between the two groups. The FH+ group considerably less risk with their points compared to the control group. This shows the effect of familial risk of depression in young people.

References

Z. N. Mannie, C. Williams, M. Browning and P. J. Cowen. Decision making in young people at familial risk of depression . Psychological Medicine, available on CJO2014. doi:10.1017/S0033291714001482.