Open AccessThe experience of social exclusion in women with a history of suicidal acts: a neuroimaging study
Author(s) -
Émilie Olié,
Fabrice Jollant,
Jérémy Deverdun,
Nicolas Menjot de Champfleur,
Fabienne Cyprien,
Emmanuelle Le Bars,
Thibault Mura,
Alain Bonafé,
Philippe Courtet
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
scientific reports
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.24
H-Index - 213
ISSN - 2045-2322
DOI - 10.1038/s41598-017-00211-x
Subject(s) - psychology , suicidal ideation , psychiatry , clinical psychology , social rejection , distress , suicide attempt , mood , mood disorders , major depressive disorder , depression (economics) , emotion perception , insula , poison control , suicide prevention , medicine , anxiety , perception , social relation , neuroscience , social psychology , environmental health , economics , macroeconomics
Suicidal behaviors result from a complex interaction between social stressors and individual vulnerability. However, little is known of the specific neural network supporting the sensitivity to social stressors in patients at risk of suicidal acts. Using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging, we investigated brain processing of social rejection in suicide attempters. Thirty-six euthymic women with a history of depression and suicidal behavior were compared to 41 euthymic women with a history of depression but no suicidal attempt, and 28 healthy controls. The Cyberball Game was used as a validated social exclusion paradigm. Relative to healthy controls, both patient groups reported higher levels of social distress related to the task, without significant differences according to suicidal status. Compared to patients without any history of suicide attempt and healthy controls, suicide attempters showed decreased contrast in the left insula and supramarginal gyrus during the exclusion vs. inclusion condition, after controlling for number of depressive episodes, medication, mood disorder type or social phobia. Our study highlights impaired brain response to social exclusion in euthymic female suicide attempters in regions previously implicated in pain tolerance and social cognition. These findings suggest sustained brain dysfunctions related to social perception in suicide attempters.