Brain structure associated with automatic thoughts predicted depression symptoms in healthy individuals

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Psychiatry
• Cognitive Psychology

Background:

• Previous research explored links between personality, negative automatic thoughts, and depression separately.
• The mediating role of negative automatic thoughts and their neural correlates in depression remains underexplored.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the relationships among personality (Neuroticism), negative automatic thoughts (ATQ), and depression (SDS).
• To examine the neuroanatomical correlates of negative automatic thoughts using MRI.
• To explore the mediating role of negative automatic thoughts between brain structure and depressive symptoms.

Main Methods:

• 298 healthy participants completed Neuroticism, ATQ, and SDS questionnaires.
• Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) analyzed gray matter volume (GMV) from MRI scans.
• Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) assessed mediation pathways.

Main Results:

• The Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire (ATQ) mediated the relationship between Neuroticism and the Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS).
• ATQ scores positively correlated with gray matter volume (GMV) in the parahippocampal gyrus (PHG).
• SEM indicated that negative automatic thoughts mediated the association between PHG GMV and depression; PHG volume and neuroticism interacted to predict automatic thoughts.

Conclusions:

• Negative automatic thoughts are a significant mediator between personality traits, parahippocampal gyrus structure, and depression.
• The parahippocampal gyrus's gray matter volume is neuroanatomically linked to negative automatic thoughts.
• Negative automatic thoughts may serve as a crucial predictor for depression outcomes.