Visual-stress-related cortical excitability as a prospective marker for symptoms of depression and anxiety in young people

Visual-stress-related cortical excitability as a prospective marker for symptoms of depression and anxiety in young people

Visual stress is thought to reflect cortical excitability and has been associated with many neurological, neuropsychiatric, and neurodevelopmental conditions. However, its relationships with symptoms of depression and anxiety have not yet been elucidated. We conducted two separate studies to first e...

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Published in:European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience 2023-08, Vol.273 (5), p.1051-1060
Main Authors: Hui, Christy Lai-Ming, Wong, Stephanie Ming-Yin, Yu, Terrence Yat-To, Lau, Terry Tak-Yee, Choi, Olivia, Tsang, Samantha, Suen, Yi-Nam, Lam, Bess Yin-Hung, Wong, Corine Sau-Man, Lui, Simon Sai-Yu, Chan, Kai-Tai, Wong, Michael Tak-Hing, Wong, Gloria Hoi-Yan, Chan, Sherry Kit-Wa, Lee, Edwin Ho-Ming, Chang, Wing-Chung, Wilkins, Arnold, Chen, Eric Yu-Hai
Format: Article
Language:eng
Subjects:
Anxiety
Epidemiology
Excitability
Loneliness
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Mental depression
Mental health
Neurosciences
Original Paper
Psychiatry
Stress
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Summary:Visual stress is thought to reflect cortical excitability and has been associated with many neurological, neuropsychiatric, and neurodevelopmental conditions. However, its relationships with symptoms of depression and anxiety have not yet been elucidated. We conducted two separate studies to first examine visual stress in a longitudinal community sample of 104 participants (aged 12–24) in association with prospective symptoms of depression, anxiety, and distress after 3 months, and subsequently in a cross-sectional epidemiological sample of 530 participants (aged 15–24) to validate its associations with current mood and distress symptoms. The Pattern Glare Test was used to examine visual stress to three grating patterns with the spatial frequencies (SF) of 0.3, 2.3, and 9.4 cycles per degree (cpd). Other known factors of mental health, including functioning, as well as resilience, hopelessness, and loneliness, were also assessed at baseline. In both studies, we showed that perceptual distortions were highest toward the pattern with mid-SF (2.3 cpd). Multiple linear regression analyses revealed that greater visual stress was significantly associated with not only baseline but also 3-month symptom outcomes, even when accounting for age, years of education, days of no functioning, resilience, hopelessness, and loneliness. Our findings suggest the importance of visual stress in understanding and predicting poor mental health outcomes. As mental health can lead to far-reaching consequences that extend to adulthood, our findings may inform state-of-the-art innovative strategies for the prediction of poor mental health outcomes and suggest visual stress as a potential marker for early risk detection among young people.
ISSN:0940-1334
1433-8491