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 Was, Renken RJ, ) Connection break up: An experimental design to review ramifications of stress on anxiety (-like) symptoms. PLoS One fourteen(5): e0217320.
Romantic relationship separation: An experimental model to analyze outcomes of strain on anxiety (-like) attacks
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Funding: The analysis try financed from the a donation out-of Mr Hazewinkel so you’re able to the analysis University away from Behavioural and you can Cognitive Neurosciences and you may Prof Grams.J. ter Horst. Mr Hazewinkel didn’t come with character into the studies construction, research collection and you can investigation, choice to publish, otherwise preparing of your manuscript.
Introduction
Stressed life-incidents are considered becoming chance things into the growth of despair. Kendler mais aussi al. investigated brand new interplay anywhere between tiring occurrences, genetic predisposition and you may depression one of ladies twins and discovered that each other inheritance and you can occurrence away from exhausting situations contributed to the brand new onset of depressive periods independently. Particularly events with a high perception, such as loss of a close partner and you can split up, increased the likelihood of development good depressive event, although the almost all people don’t generate a beneficial depressive episode adopting the exposure to an upsetting feel. And therefore, research targeting tiring and you may psychologically hurtful incidents deliver rewarding expertise on https://datingranking.net/sugar-daddies-usa/ga/ the individual distinctions away from stress-relevant dealing and the results of stress and you may anxiety.
