Self-blame-selective social conceptual overgeneralisation and vulnerability to depression

Beck observed overgeneralised thinking as a key vulnerability factor for excessive self-blame/-criticism in major depressive disorder (MDD). Whilst the contribution of reduced access to specific autobiographical memory episodes has often been considered, the role of more abstract semantic memory systems remains elusive. Here, we investigated the individual ability to differentiate between the meaning of abstract social concepts when interpreting behaviour (e.g. "critical" vs "fault-finding") and its contribution to vulnerability to self-blaming biases and MDD using a previously developed cognitive task in 96 participants (n = 60 medication-free remitted MDD and n = 36 controls). Of those, 75 participants also completed an fMRI paradigm in which they viewed self- and other-blame emotion-evoking statements. A priori right anterior temporal lobe (ATL) seed and bilateral anterior subgenual cingulate and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex regions-of-interest were defined. As expected, the MDD group exhibited greater self-blame-selective conceptual overgeneralisation and stronger interdependency of conceptual overgeneralisation with negative emotional valence relative to the control group. Individuals with this interdependency showed higher self-blame-selective right anterior subgenual cingulate and primary motor cortex activations across groups, potentially corresponding to stronger self-blame and self-agency attributions, respectively, when conceptually overgeneralising the interpretation of their negative actions. Individuals with higher self-blame-selective conceptual overgeneralisation displayed lower right ATL activation for self- vs other-blame, suggesting reduced access to differentiated conceptual representations. Future studies are needed to confirm the hypothesis that self-blame-selective conceptual overgeneralisation characterises a distinct neurocognitive subtype of primary MDD vulnerability which may be modulated by depressive state and thus serve as a personalised treatment target.