The occurrence of a stressful event is considered to increase the risk of developing depression. In the present study we explore whether the breakup of a romantic relationship can be used as an experimental model to study a depression-like state during a period of stress in individuals without a psychiatric disorder. The primary aim of our study was to investigate: 1) whether individuals with a recent romantic relationship breakup (‘‘heartbreak”) demonstrate symptoms of depression, 2) how to describe heartbreak characteristics based on data from a comprehensive questionnaire battery, and 3) whether this description can capture severity of depression symptoms. Secondary, we were interested in gender differences with regard to the above study objectives. Subjects who have experienced a relationship breakup in the preceding six months (N = 71) or are in a romantic relationship (N = 46) participated in our study. A questionnaire battery was administered to acquire information related to depression, mood, the breakup and (former) relationship. Principal Component Analysis with Procrustes bootstrapping was performed to extract components from the questionnaire data. Even though our sample of individuals who recently have experienced a relationship breakup can be on average considered non-depressed, group-level depression scores were elevated compared to individuals in a relationship (p = .001) and 26.8% reported symptoms corresponding to mild, moderate or severe depression. We described heartbreak by two principal components interpreted as ‘‘sudden loss” and ‘‘lack of positive affect”, respectively. Highly significant correlations between the component scores and depression scores were found (p < .001 and p < .001, respectively), although these correlations differed between the genders. Based on these findings, we propose that the experience of a romantic relationship breakup is a viable experimental model to examine symptoms of depression in individuals without a psychiatric disorder. This way, stress-related coping and depression vulnerability can be studied in further research.
Citation: Verhallen Are, Renken RJ, ) Connection break up: A fresh model to learn negative effects of strain on anxiety (-like) episodes. PLoS You to 14(5): e0217320.
Copyright: © 2019 Verhallen ainsi que al. This will be an unbarred accessibility article delivered beneath the terms of the fresh Innovative Commons Attribution Licenses, which it permits open-ended play with, shipment, and breeding in every typical, considering the first author and you may supply is actually credited.
Connection breakup: An experimental model to review effects of stress on despair (-like) attacks
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Funding: The analysis is actually funded of the a contribution of Mr Hazewinkel to help you the analysis College or university of Behavioural and you may Intellectual Neurosciences and you will Prof G.J. ter Horst. Mr Hazewinkel had no role from inside the studies design, study range and you may research, choice to share, or thinking of the manuscript.
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Stressful life-incidents are thought getting exposure facts on the growth of anxiety. Kendler ainsi que al. investigated the new interplay between exhausting occurrences, hereditary predisposition and anxiety certainly one of female twins and discovered you to both genetics and density off stressful occurrences contributed to the brand new start of depressive attacks independently. Particularly situations with high effect, like loss of a near friend and splitting up, raised the probability of development good depressive occurrence, even though the majority of people don’t develop good depressive event following the contact with an unpleasant enjoy. Hence, browse targeting exhausting and mentally hurtful events will offer beneficial facts towards personal variations of stress-relevant coping together with link between fret and depression.