Comparison of neuropsychological functioning and emotional processing in major depression and social anxiety disorder subjects, and matched healthy controls.
OBJECTIVE
Few studies of neuropsychological function in major depression have examined emotional processing or the impact of gender. Patients have also been compared with highly selected control participants and rarely with other patient groups. The objective of this study was to compare neuropsychological function in a major depressive episode (MDE) with a group of patients with an anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder (SAD), and healthy controls, to include measures of emotional processing and to analyse the effects of gender on neuropsychological function and emotional processing in these groups.


METHODS
One hundred and one medication-free patients with MDE, 30 patients with SAD and 76 healthy control participants were recruited. The groups were matched for age and estimated premorbid intelligence and education. Subjects performed a battery of neuropsychological tests assessing; verbal learning and memory, visuospatial learning and memory, attention, executive function and psychomotor performance. They also performed a task measuring the accuracy of recognition of facial emotional expressions.


RESULTS
Compared with healthy participants and those with SAD, patients with MDE were significantly impaired in verbal learning and spatial working memory. The SAD group misclassified significantly more neutral expressions as angry and fewer as sad, compared with the MDE group and healthy controls, but there were no significant differences between the MDE group and healthy controls. The profile of performance was the same regardless of gender.


CONCLUSIONS
The study confirms a significant impairment in neuropsychological function in a clinical sample of outpatients with MDE, which is likely to have important implications for day-to-day functioning and treatment.
Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Otago, Christchurch, New Zealand.
Cecilia
C
Bourke
Richard J
RJ
Porter
Janet D
JD
Carter
Virginia V
VV
McIntosh
Jennifer
J
Jordan
Caroline
C
Bell
Frances
F
Carter
Helen
H
Colhoun
Peter R
PR
Joyce
D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D004644:Emotions; D056344:Executive Function; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010698:Phobic Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D014706:Verbal Learning