Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dsjbd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T20:19:38.712Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The pathoplasticity of dysphoric episodes: differential impact of stressful life events on the pattern of depressive symptom inter-correlations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 November 2011

A. O. J. Cramer ,
D. Borsboom ,
S. H. Aggen  and
K. S. Kendler
A. O. J. Cramer*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
D. Borsboom
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
S. H. Aggen
Affiliation:
Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, Richmond, VA, USA Department of Psychiatry, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA
K. S. Kendler
Affiliation:
Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, Richmond, VA, USA Department of Psychiatry, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA
*
*Address for correspondence: A. O. J. Cramer, M.Sc., University of Amsterdam, Department of Psychology, Roetersstraat 15, 1018 WB Amsterdam, The Netherlands. (Email: [email protected])
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Background

Previous research has shown that stressful life events (SLEs) influence the pattern of individual depressive symptoms. However, we do not know how these differences arise. Two theories about the nature of psychiatric disorders have different predictions about the source of these differences: (1) SLEs influence depressive symptoms and correlations between them indirectly, via an underlying acute liability to develop a dysphoric episode (DE; common cause hypothesis); and (2) SLEs influence depressive symptoms and correlations between them directly (network hypothesis). The present study investigates the predictions of these two theories.

Method

We divided a population-based sample of 2096 Caucasian twins (49.9% female) who reported at least two aggregated depressive symptoms in the last year into four groups, based on the SLE they reported causing their symptoms. For these groups, we calculated tetrachoric correlations between the 14 disaggregated depressive symptoms and, subsequently, tested whether the resulting correlation patterns were significantly different and if those differences could be explained by underlying differences in a single acute liability to develop a DE.

Results

The four SLE groups had markedly different correlation patterns between the depressive symptoms. These differences were significant and could not be explained by underlying differences in the acute liability to develop a DE.

Conclusions

Our results are not compatible with the common cause perspective but are consistent with the predictions of the network hypothesis. We elaborate on the implications of a conceptual shift to the network perspective for our diagnostic and philosophical approach to the concept of what constitutes a psychiatric disorder.

Keywords

Common cause hypothesisdysphoric episodenetwork hypothesisstressful life events
Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 42 , Issue 5 , May 2012 , pp. 957 - 965
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Birnbaum, K (1923). Der aufbau der Psychose. Springer: Berlin.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boccaletti, S, Latora, V, Moreno, Y, Chavez, M, Hwang, D-U (2006). Complex networks: structure and dynamics. Physics Reports 424, 175–308.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bollen, KA (2002). Latent variables in psychology and the social sciences. Annual Review of Psychology 53, 605–634.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Borsboom, D, Mellenbergh, GJ, van Heerden, J (2003). The theoretical status of latent variables. Psychological Review 110, 203–219.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brown, GW, Bifulco, A, Harris, TO (1987). Life events, vulnerability and onset of depression: some refinements. British Journal of Psychiatry 150, 30–42.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Coryell, W, Winokur, G, Shea, T, Maser, JD, Endicott, J, Akiskal, HS (1994). The long-term stability of depressive subtypes. American Journal of Psychiatry 151, 199–204.Google ScholarPubMed
Cramer, AOJ, Waldorp, LJ, van der Maas, HLJ, Borsboom, D (2010). Comorbidity: a network perspective. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 33, 137–193.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Epskamp, S, Cramer, AOJ, Waldorp, LJ, Schmittmann, VD, Borsboom, D (2011). Qgraph: network representations of relationships in data. R package version 0.4.10 (http://CRAN.R-project.org/package=qgraph).Google Scholar
Hu, L, Bentler, PM (1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling 6, 1–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jacobs, N, Kenis, G, Peeters, F, Derom, C, Vlietinck, R, van Os, J (2006). Stress-related negative affectivity and genetically altered serotonin transporter function. Archives of General Psychiatry 63, 989–996.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Keller, MC, Neale, MC, Kendler, KS (2007). Association of different adverse life events with distinct patterns of depressive symptoms. American Journal of Psychiatry 164, 1521–1529.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Keller, MC, Nesse, RM (2005). Subtypes of low mood provide evidence of its adaptive significance. Journal of Affective Disorders 86, 27–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keller, MC, Nesse, RM (2006). The evolutionary significance of depressive symptoms: different adverse situations lead to different depressive symptom patterns. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 91, 316–330.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kendler, KS (2006). Reflections on the relationship between psychiatric genetics and psychiatric nosology. American Journal of Psychiatry 163, 1138–1146.Google ScholarPubMed
Kendler, KS, Karkowski, LM, Prescott, CA (1999). Causal relationships between stressful life events and the onset of major depression. American Journal of Psychiatry 156, 837–841.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kendler, KS, Kessler, RC, Walters, EE, MacLean, C, Neale, MC, Heath, AC, Eaves, LJ (1995). Stressful life events, genetic liability, and onset of an episode of major depression in women. American Journal of Psychiatry 152, 833–842.Google ScholarPubMed
Kendler, KS, Prescott, CA (2006). Genes, Environment, and Psychopathology: Understanding the Causes of Psychiatric and Substance Use Disorders. Guilford Press: New York.Google Scholar
Kendler, KS, Zachar, P, Craver, C (2010). What kinds of things are psychiatric disorders? Psychological Medicine. Published online: 22 September 2010. doi:10.1017/S0033291710001844.Google ScholarPubMed
Kraepelin, E (1923). Clinical Psychiatry: A Textbook for Students and Physicians. MacMillan: New York.Google Scholar
Leskelä, US, Melartin, TK, Lestelä-Mielonen, PS, Rytsälä, HJ, Sokero, TP, Heikkinen, ME, Isometsä, ET (2004). Life events, social support, and onset of major depressive episode in Finnish patients. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 192, 373–381.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Middeldorp, CM, Cath, DC, Beem, AL, Willemsen, G, Boomsma, DI (2008). Life events, anxious depression and personality: a prospective and genetic study. Psychological Medicine 38, 1557–1565.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Munafò, MR, Durrant, C, Lewis, G, Flint, J (2009). Gene×environment interactions at the serotonin transporter locus. Biological Psychiatry 65, 211–219.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Muthén, LK, Muthén, BO (2007). Mplus User's Guide. Muthén & Muthén: Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Olsen, LR, Mortensen, EL, Bech, P (2004). Prevalence of major depression and stress indicators in the Danish general population. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 109, 96–103.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Oquendo, MA, Barrera, A, Ellis, SP, Li, S, Burke, AK, Grunebaum, M, Endicott, J, Mann, JJ (2004). Instability of symptoms in recurrent major depression: a prospective study. American Journal of Psychiatry 161, 255–261.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pearl, J (2000). Causality: Models, Reasoning, and Inference. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.Google Scholar
Prescott, CA, Aggen, SH, Kendler, KS (2000). Sex-specific genetic influences on the comorbidity of alcoholism and major depression in a population-based sample of US twins. Archives of General Psychiatry 57, 803–811.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reise, SP, Waller, NG (2009). Item response theory and clinical measurement. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology 5, 27–48.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rijsdijk, FV, Sham, PC, Sterne, A, Purcell, S, McGuffin, P, Farmer, A, Goldberg, D, Mann, A, Cherny, SS, Webster, M, Ball, D, Eley, TC, Plomin, R (2001). Life events and depression in a community sample of siblings. Psychological Medicine 31, 401–410.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Slavich, GM, Thornton, T, Torres, LD, Monroe, SM, Gotlib, IH (2009). Targeted rejection predicts hastened onset of major depression. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology 28, 223–243.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zachar, P, Kendler, KS (2007). Psychiatric disorders: a conceptual taxonomy. American Journal of Psychiatry 164, 557–565.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Supplementary material: File

Cramer Supplementary Tables

Cramer Supplementary Tables

Download Cramer Supplementary Tables(File)
File 144.4 KB