Criticism from others is an unpleasant but inevitable aspect of social interaction. Although most people deal with criticism without adverse emotional consequences, the neural processes that mediate exposure to such a socially threatening stimulus are, as yet, unknown. Understanding the neural basis of criticism is important because criticism is known to be highly predictive of symptomatic relapse in people who are susceptible to mood disorders. Knowing how emotionally healthy and emotionally vulnerable persons process highly self-relevant social stimuli such as criticism and praise is therefore of great importance. This study uses fMRI to examine the effects of both criticism and praise on levels of neural activity in selected brain regions in a sample of currently depressed, recovered depressed, and never depressed participants. Patterns of activation in response to neutral statements are also explored. The focus is on three brain regions thought to be involved in the experience of emotion: amygdala, anterior cingulate cortex, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. All three regions are part of a limbic loop that is thought to mediate emotional experience, and may play a significant role in the expression of depressive symptoms. By taking criticism, a psychosocial stressor known to predict relapse in depression, and using it as a stimulus in an fMRI paradigm, this research holds the potential to provide much-needed information on normative aspects of emotional processing, shed light on the nature of vulnerability to depression, and provide insights into the neuroanatomy involved in the psychiatric relapse process.
