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 Am, Renken RJ, ) Connection breakup: A fresh design to review ramifications of stress on depression (-like) attacks. PLoS You to definitely 14(5): e0217320.
Copyright: © 2019 Verhallen et al. That is an unbarred availability article distributed in terms of the fresh new Imaginative Commons Attribution License, and that it permits open-ended have fun with, delivery, and you may breeding in almost any average, given the initial author and you can supply was paid.
Connection separation: An experimental design to study effects of strain on depression (-like) attacks
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Funding: The analysis is actually financed by the a contribution away from Mr Hazewinkel so you can the study University off Behavioural and you will Cognitive Neurosciences and you can Prof Grams.J. ter Horst. Mr Hazewinkel didn’t come with role in the study structure, studies collection and you may investigation, choice to create, otherwise planning of your own manuscript.
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Stressful life-occurrences are thought is chance activities toward growth of https://datingranking.net/nl/angelreturn-overzicht/ depression. Kendler ainsi que al. investigated the latest interplay anywhere between tiring situations, hereditary predisposition and you can depression one of lady twins and found that both inheritance and you can occurrence of exhausting incidents resulted in the fresh start of depressive attacks on their own. Particularly occurrences with a high effect, like loss of a virtually relative and divorce case, increased the probability of developing a good depressive event, although the most people don’t establish a good depressive episode following connection with an unpleasant knowledge. Hence, look centering on exhausting and you can emotionally hurtful incidents will provide worthwhile information for the individual distinctions of stress-associated dealing and also the link between stress and you may despair.