Grey matter alterations in patients with depersonalization disorder: a voxel-based morphometry study

Area of Science:

• Neuroimaging
• Psychiatry
• Neurology

Background:

• No prior whole-brain studies investigated morphological aberrations in dissociative disorders.
• Previous research focused on specific regions like the amygdala and hippocampus, excluding depersonalization disorder (DPD).
• This study addresses the gap by exploring structural brain differences in DPD patients.

Purpose of the Study:

• To conduct an explorative whole-brain investigation of structural brain aberrations in patients with DPD.
• To identify grey matter volume differences between DPD patients and healthy controls.
• To correlate structural brain alterations with symptom severity in DPD.

Main Methods:

• Acquired whole-brain structural MRI data from 25 DPD patients and 23 healthy controls.
• Utilized voxel-based morphometry to analyze group differences in grey matter volume.
• Computed correlations between grey matter volume and symptom severity scores.

Main Results:

• DPD patients showed significant grey matter volume reductions in the right caudate, right thalamus, and right cuneus.
• Increased grey matter volume was observed in the left dorsomedial prefrontal cortex and right somatosensory region in DPD patients.
• These findings were independent of anxiety or depression symptom severity.

Conclusions:

• This is the first whole-brain study on grey matter volume in dissociative disorders, revealing structural alterations.
• Identified alterations are in brain regions crucial for conscious perception.
• Further research is needed to determine if these changes are risk factors or consequences of DPD.