Brooding and neuroticism are strongly interrelated manifestations of the phenome of depression

Asara Vasupanrajit; Michael Maes; Ketsupar Jirakran; Chavit Tunvirachaisakul

doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1249839

Brooding and neuroticism are strongly interrelated manifestations of the phenome of depression

Front Psychiatry. 2023 Dec 22:14:1249839. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1249839. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Asara Vasupanrajit^#^{1

2}, Michael Maes^#^{1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9}, Ketsupar Jirakran^{1

2

10}, Chavit Tunvirachaisakul^{1

2

5}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand.
² Ph.D. Program in Mental Health, Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand.
³ Sichuan Provincial Center for Mental Health, Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital, School of Medicine, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China.
⁴ Key Laboratory of Psychosomatic Medicine, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Chengdu, China.
⁵ Cognitive Impairment and Dementia Research Unit, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand.
⁶ Cognitive Fitness and Biopsychological Technology Research Unit, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand.
⁷ Department of Psychiatry, Medical University of Plovdiv, Plovdiv, Bulgaria.
⁸ Research Institute, Medical University of Plovdiv, Plovdiv, Bulgaria.
⁹ Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
¹⁰ Center of Excellence for Maximizing Children's Developmental Potential, Department of Pediatric, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Introduction: We found that neuroticism may be identified as a subclinical manifestation of the phenome of depression, comprising depressive and anxiety symptoms, and suicidal behaviors. Rumination is positively associated with depression and neuroticism and may mediate the effects of neuroticism on depression. This study aimed to determine whether rumination or its components, including brooding or reflection, mediate the effects of neuroticism on depression or, alternatively, whether both neuroticism and rumination are manifestations of the phenome of depression.

Methods: This study recruited 74 depressed subjects and 44 healthy controls. The depression group was split into groups with high versus low brooding scores. We used partial least squares (PLS) to examine mediation effects.

Results: We found that brooding and reflection scores are significantly higher in depressed patients than in controls. Patients with higher brooding scores have increased severity of depression, anxiety, insomnia, neuroticism, and current suicidal ideation as compared with patients with lower brooding scores and controls. There is a strong positive association between rumination, and neuroticism, depression, anxiety, and lifetime and current suicidal behaviors. PLS analysis shows that brooding does not mediate the effects of neuroticism on the depression phenome because no discriminant validity could be established between neuroticism and brooding, or between neuroticism and brooding and the depression phenome. We were able to extract one validated latent vector from brooding and neuroticism, insomnia, depression, anxiety, and current suicidal behaviors.

Conclusion: Overall, this study supports the theory that rumination and neuroticism are reflective manifestations of the phenome of depression.

Keywords: affective disorders; major depression; precision psychiatry; stress; suicide.

Grants and funding

AV was supported by the 90th Anniversary of Chulalongkorn University Scholarship under the Ratchadaphisek Somphot Fund (Batch#47; 3/2020), and the Ratchadaphisek Research Fund (Faculty of Medicine), MDCU (GA65/17), Chulalongkorn University, Thailand. MM was supported by the Thailand Science Research and Innovation Fund, Chulalongkorn University (HEA663000016), and Ratchadapisek Somphot Fund, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University (RA66/016).