According to a new study published in Psychological Science, those who experience high inflammatory reactivity are more likely to develop depressive symptoms. In an article provided by PsyPost.org, this study is described. Study author Annelise Madison, a Ph.D. candidate in clinical psychology at The Ohio State University, explains, “We set out to discover why psychological stress, and particularly interpersonal stress, triggers depression in some people but not others.”
The Social Signal Transduction Theory of Depression is a theory that suggests that those whose bodies produce an exaggerated inflammatory response to social stressors are most at risk for developing depression over time, especially if they deal with frequent stress. However, this theory had never been empirically tested, so this team set out to test this theory.
The researchers tested one sample of breast cancer survivors and one sample of healthy adults. In the first study, forty-three healthy adults provided a blood sample, then participated in a twenty-minute long problem-solving discussion with their partner. Two additional blood samples were then provided ninety and three hundred minutes after the discussion. It was then found that the subjects who reported more frequent interpersonal conflict had higher depressive symptoms a month later, but only if they had a greater inflammatory response in the discussion conflict.
In the second study, seventy-nine breast cancer survivors gave a blood sample before completing the Trier Social Stress Test. This test is an experimentally-verified stress-inducing scenario consisting of a speech and a mental-arithmetic task. They then had their blood drawn forty-five and one hundred and twenty minutes after completing the task. It was discovered that participants who felt lonelier and had less support socially were more inclined to have heightened depression symptoms a year later. This fact was particularly true for those with higher inflammatory reactivity.
“We found evidence in support of the Social Signal Transduction Theory of Depression; that is, people who are more physiologically reactive to interpersonal stress and regularly encounter interpersonal stress are most at risk of depressive symptom increases over time,” Madison told PsyPost. “These findings suggest that we can take steps to reduce depression risk by 1) lowering our physical reactivity to stress via strategies such as regular engagement in mindfulness meditation; or 2) reducing our exposure to interpersonal stress through more skillful navigation of relationships.”
The other side of this is that individuals who had heightened inflammatory reactivity in response to stress did not necessarily experience worse symptoms of their depression. This was only true in the context of frequent exposure to interpersonal stress. This indicates that improving the health and quality of your relationships is helpful when minimizing the risk of depression.
This study allows for initial empirical evidence to support the Social Signal Transduction Theory of Depression, but the researchers note that the findings require further investigation. “There are still many more questions concerning who is most at risk for developing depression and under what circumstances,” Annelise Madison explained. “This research is important because then we can start identifying depression risk and proactively take steps to reduce the risk when possible. Also, identifying these underlying physiological mechanisms, such as inflammation, will ultimately help us to treat depression more effectively.”
References:
Dolan, Eric W. “New Psychology Research Uncovers an Interesting Link between Inflammatory Responses and Depression.” PsyPost, 6 Mar. 2022, https://www.psypost.org/2022/03/new-psychology-research-uncovers-an-interesting-link-between-inflammatory-responses-and-depression-62688.
Frequent Interpersonal Stress and ... - Journals.sagepub.com. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/09567976211031225?ai=2b4&mi=ehikzz&af=R&cookieSet=1.