Author(s)

Yishuhan Shi ¹

Affiliation(s)

¹ Wuhan University of Science and Technology, Wuhan City, Hubei Province, 430081, China

Corresponding Author

Yishuhan Shi

ABSTRACT

Depression, as a common psychological disorder, has attracted widespread attention in society. Patients with this disease often exhibit significant attentional bias towards negative emotional faces in the early stages. When they face a face with negative emotions, their attention is involuntarily drawn, and this situation becomes particularly complex in the post-processing of attention, making it difficult for them to escape and further deepening their emotional distress. Researchers have found that this attentional bias is closely related to changes in gray matter volume and concentration in the brain of patients with depression. These changes not only affect the brain structure of patients, but also lead to difficulties in emotional regulation. In other words, these changes in the patient's brain may be the root cause of their emotional distress. In order to help patients overcome this dilemma, attention bias modification (ABM) has gradually received attention from the medical community in recent years. ABM is a training method aimed at addressing attention bias, which aims to help patients better cope with and handle negative emotions by adjusting their attention patterns. When the patient's attention is no longer troubled by negative emotions, their emotional state is expected to be relieved and improved. When ABM is used in combination with antidepressants, its effect is more significant. In the future, primary health institutions may consider ABM as an effective treatment option, in parallel with drug therapy, providing patients with more treatment options. However, the mechanism of action of ABM remains a mystery. Although it is known that it can help patients adjust their attention, the underlying neural mechanisms and changes in brain structure still need further exploration. In order to better utilize ABM, future research should delve deeper into how it affects the brain structure and function of patients. Only in this way can more targeted intervention plans be developed for patients with depression, providing them with more effective treatment or prevention measures. I hope that in the near future, we can find more ways to treat depression, so that patients can quickly get out of the haze and embrace the sunshine again.

KEYWORDS

Emotional faces, Depression, Attentional bias

CITE THIS PAPER

Yishuhan Shi, Attention bias and intervention research of depressive patients to emotional faces. Applied & Educational Psychology (2024) Vol. 5: 85-91. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.23977/appep.2024.050112.

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