Abstract：
Childhood maltreatment is an established risk factor for psychopathology. However, it remains unclear how childhood traumatic events relate to mental health problems and how the brain is involved. This study examined the serial mediation effect of brain morphological alterations and emotion-/reward-related functions on linking the relationship from maltreatment to depression. We recruited 156 healthy adolescents and young adults and an additional sample of 31 adolescents with major depressive disorder for assessment of childhood maltreatment, depressive symptoms, cognitive reappraisal and anticipatory/consummatory pleasure. Structural MRI data were acquired to identify maltreatment-related cortical and subcortical morphological differences. The mediation models suggested that emotional maltreatment of abuse and neglect, was respectively associated with increased gray matter volume in the ventral striatum and greater thickness in the middle cingulate cortex. These structural alterations were further related to reduced anticipatory pleasure and disrupted cognitive reappraisal, which contributed to more severe depressive symptoms among healthy individuals. The above mediating effects were not replicated in our clinical group partly due to the small sample size. Preventative interventions can target emotional and reward systems to foster resilience and reduce the likelihood of future psychiatric disorders among individuals with a history of maltreatment.
摘要：
儿童虐待是精神病理学的既定危险因素。然而,目前尚不清楚童年创伤事件与心理健康问题的关系，以及大脑是如何参与的。这项研究研究了大脑形态改变和情绪/奖励相关功能在将虐待与抑郁症之间的关系联系起来方面的一系列调解作用。我们招募了156名健康的青少年和年轻人，以及另外31名患有重度抑郁症的青少年样本，用于评估儿童虐待情况。抑郁症状,认知重估和预期/完成性愉悦。获取结构MRI数据以识别与虐待相关的皮质和皮质下形态差异。调解模型表明，情感虐待虐待和忽视，分别与腹侧纹状体的灰质体积增加和中扣带皮质的厚度增加有关。这些结构性改变进一步与预期愉悦减少和认知重估中断有关，这导致了健康个体中更严重的抑郁症状。上述介导作用在我们的临床组中没有重复，部分原因是样本量小。预防性干预可以针对情绪和奖励系统，以增强韧性，并减少有虐待史的个体未来发生精神疾病的可能性。
