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Mentalizing abilities and serum lipid levels in adult MDD patients with childhood maltreatment – preliminary results

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 September 2022

P. Nyarondi*
Affiliation:
Medical School, University of Pécs, Department Of Psychiatry And Psychotherapy, Pécs, Hungary
Á. Péterfalvi
Affiliation:
University of Pécs, Medical School, Pécs, Hungary, Department Of Laboratory Medicine, Pécs, Hungary
M. Szennai
Affiliation:
Medical School, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary, Department Of Psychiatry And Psychotherapy, Pécs, Hungary
N. Németh
Affiliation:
Neurobiology of Stress Research Group, János Szentágothai Research Centre, University Of Pécs, Hungary, Pécs, Hungary
T. Tényi
Affiliation:
Medical Faculty, University of Pécs, Hungary, Department Of Psychiatry And Psychotherapy, Pécs, Hungary
B. Czéh
Affiliation:
János Szentágothai Research Centre, University of Pécs, Hungary, Neurobiology Of Stress Research Group, Pécs, Hungary
M. Simon
Affiliation:
Medical School, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary, Department Of Psychiatry And Psychotherapy, Pécs, Hungary
*
*Corresponding author.

Abstract

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Introduction

Childhood maltreatment (CM) contributes to negative mental and physical health outcomes including major depressive disorder (MDD), and an elevated risk for cardiovascular disease (CDV) in adults. Also, childhood maltreatment can be related to mentalizing deficits in MDD. Cardio-metabolic diseases often coincide with MDD and worsen its course and outcome. Little is known on the interplay of these factors.

Objectives

We examined MDD patients with and without CM to explore the effects of CM on serum lipid and lipoprotein levels and assessed their mentalizing abilities. Self-oriented mentalizing was operationalized as emotional self-awareness/alexithymia, other-oriented mentalizing was defined as theory of mind (ToM).

Methods

MDD patients (N=42) and healthy controls (n=20) matched in age, sex, and lifestyle were investigated. Total cholesterol, triglycerides, high- and low-density lipoproteins (HDL-C and LDL-C), body mass index, and exercise in a typical week were measured. Beck Depression Inventory, Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, Toronto Alexithymia scale, and the Reading the mind in the Eyes Test were used to assess clinical symptoms, mentalizing abilities and CM.

Results

After controlling for depressive symptom severity, demographic and lifestyle variables, CM was found to be a strong predictor of serum lipid alterations. Mentalizing deficits correlated with CM. Serum triglycerides, HDL-C were significant predictors of ToM performance (P<0.05, and P=0.005) and alexithymia (P< 0.05, and P< 0.05) in the MDD group.

Conclusions

Several, inter-correlated pathways may mediate the undesirable effects of CM on the course and outcome of MDD. According to our preliminary results, diminished self-awareness and ToM can be possible mediating factors.

Disclosure

This work was financially supported by the Hungarian Brain Research Program (2017-1.2.1-NKP-2017-00002)

Type
Abstract
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the European Psychiatric Association
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