Neuropsychological correlates of depressive symptoms, rumination, and childhood trauma: a preliminary analysis with individuals with bipolar disorder and healthy controls.

INTRODUCTION

Depressive symptoms, rumination, and childhood trauma are often interrelated psychological features associated with functional difficulties in mood disorders. Theoretically, they may interfere with daily functioning via an impact on cognition, but this patterning is not well understood in bipolar disorder.

METHOD: Participants were adults ages 18-70 years with a diagnosis of bipolar I or II disorder (n = 22) and healthy controls (n = 11). They completed a clinician-rated measure of depressive symptoms; self-reports of rumination, childhood trauma, and executive functioning; as well as a neuropsychological test battery involving assessments of attention, executive functioning, and memory. Correlations of depressive symptoms, rumination, and childhood trauma with performance-based cognitive function and self-reported executive functioning across the sample were assessed.

RESULTS

Rumination and childhood trauma were associated with reduced fine motor speed. Depressive symptoms, rumination, and childhood trauma all conferred worse self-reported executive functioning.

CONCLUSIONS

Depressive symptoms, rumination, and childhood trauma may exhibit neuropsychological correlates of cognitive and executive function, which could be related to alterations in brain networks at the neural level. Results serve as hypothesis generating for future work examining connections between these constructs and cognitive function, particularly as related to impaired motor speed and executive function. With additional research, this differential patterning of risk factors may help to identify specific risk populations.