Developmental Depression in Adolescents: A Potential Sub-type Based on Neural Correlates and Comorbidity

Abstract Diagnosis of depression has low reliability (kappa = 0.28) due to “covert heterogeneity,” making the identification of sub-types a focus of research. Very high rates of moderate or sub-threshold depression among adolescents (35–45 % beyond the 20–25 % with MDD), prompt consideration of a potential sub-type of moderate sub-threshold depression, linked to adolescent development. Previously, developmental depression (DD) has been proposed as sub-type of moderate depression that is a normative developmental process of spiritual individuation, the integration of existential and spiritual experience. DD as a potential sub-type is supported both by clinical observation and by an emerging body of research identifying a common physiology to underlie both depression and spirituality (neurotransmitters, structural MRI and long-term clinical course), as well as research showing a surge of spirituality in adolescence (concomitant with window of risk of depression). We test for unique patterns of comorbidity and neural correlates as support for a sub-type. Based upon existing literature, we propose that DD will be (1) associated with the unique neural correlate of increased volume in the occipital region and (2) co-morbid with symptoms of affected regulation and processing. A sample of 125 adolescents (64 girls and 61 boys; ages 15–19 years) from the larger National Institute of Health Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Study of Normal Brain Developm...
Source: Journal of Religion and Health - Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research