The relationship between the prefrontal activation during a verbal fluency task and stress-coping style in major depressive disorder: A near-infrared spectroscopy study

Abstract This study aimed to identify coping styles used by patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) in comparison with those used by healthy controls, and to explore their association with prefrontal hemodynamic response related to a cognitive task. Regional hemodynamic changes were monitored during a verbal fluency task (VFT) using a 52-channel near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) apparatus in 26 MDD patients in depressive state and 30 matched healthy controls, and their correlation with coping styles assessed by Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations (CISS) were examined. We found the Emotion-oriented coping style was significantly higher, whereas the Task-oriented coping and Avoidance-oriented coping style were lower in the MDD group compared with controls. Emotion-oriented coping style positively correlated with subjective assessment of depression severity. Regional hemodynamic changes were significantly smaller in the MDD group than in the control group in prefrontal and temporal regions, and positively correlated with Task-oriented coping (adaptive coping) in the bilateral ventrolateral and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and the midline fronto-polar and bilateral orbitofrontal cortex regions. These findings suggest coping styles may be considered an important source of knowledge for patients who struggle with the illness and for mental health professionals who work with MDD patients, and that hemodynamic response in the ventrolateral and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, midline fronto-polar, and orbitofrontal cortex regions during a VFT may reflect the adaptive coping (Task-oriented coping) style in MDD patients in depressive state.