Lin Wenzhou, Liu Aiyi, Wu Xinchun, Liu Mingxiao
Beijing Key Laboratory of Applied Experimental Psychology, National Demonstration Center for Experimental Psychology Education (Beijing Normal University), Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.
Beijing Key Laboratory of Applied Experimental Psychology, National Demonstration Center for Experimental Psychology Education (Beijing Normal University), Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.
Child Abuse Negl. 2025 Feb;160:107215. doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2024.107215. Epub 2024 Dec 28.
Individuals with a history of childhood maltreatment commonly experience the co-occurrence of complex post-traumatic stress disorder (CPTSD) and depression, but the underlying mechanisms of their comorbidities remain unclear.
We recruited 2740 college students, including 1366 who experienced childhood maltreatment to assess the co-occurrence network of CPTSD and depression symptoms. We constructed a Gaussian graphical model to visualize the associations between symptoms and a directed acyclic graph to explore inferred relationships among symptoms.
(1) We identified the following five subnetworks within the co-occurring network of CPTSD and depression symptoms: post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), disturbance in self-organization (DSO), depression with vegetative symptoms, depression with interpersonal problems, and lack of positive affect subnetworks. (2) Core symptoms, identified by their high expected influence, such as sadness, low spirits, and not feeling loved have the highest EI in the depression subnetwork, whereas failure, distant, avoiding clues, and avoiding thoughts have the highest EI in the DSO and PTSD subnetworks. Bridging symptoms in the childhood maltreatment network included failure, self-denial, startlement, and hyperactivity. (3) The inferred mechanism identified includes PTSD activating DSO, which subsequently triggers depression in the childhood maltreatment network.
This study involved a non-clinical sample.
Our study contributes to a deeper understanding of the mechanisms of CPTSD and depression co-occurrence at a transdiagnostic level and has implications for better clinical interventions targeting influential symptoms.
有童年虐待史的个体通常会同时经历复杂创伤后应激障碍（CPTSD）和抑郁症，但它们共病的潜在机制仍不清楚。
我们招募了2740名大学生，其中1366名有童年虐待经历，以评估CPTSD和抑郁症状的共现网络。我们构建了一个高斯图形模型来可视化症状之间的关联，并构建了一个有向无环图来探索症状之间的推断关系。
（1）我们在CPTSD和抑郁症状的共现网络中识别出以下五个子网：创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）、自我组织障碍（DSO）、伴有躯体症状的抑郁症、伴有人际关系问题的抑郁症和缺乏积极情感子网。（2）通过高预期影响力识别出的核心症状，如悲伤、情绪低落和感觉不被爱，在抑郁症子网中具有最高的预期影响力，而失败、疏远、回避线索和回避想法在DSO和PTSD子网中具有最高的预期影响力。童年虐待网络中的桥梁症状包括失败、自我否定、惊吓和多动。（3）推断出的机制包括PTSD激活DSO，随后在童年虐待网络中引发抑郁症。
本研究涉及非临床样本。
我们的研究有助于在跨诊断水平上更深入地理解CPTSD和抑郁症共病的机制，并对针对有影响力症状的更好临床干预具有启示意义。
