Transdiagnostic mechanisms in maltreatment-associated psychopathology in adolescents: Investigating inflammatory and regulatory flexibility

• Applicants: Professorin Dr. Vera Clemens; Professorin Dr. Ann-Christin Haag
• Subject Area: Clinical Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry ; Developmental Neurobiology
• Term: since 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 550363961

Child maltreatment (CM) constitutes a main risk factor for neuropsychiatric diseases. Being such an important risk factor for psychopathology, it is suggestive that child maltreatment may precipitate neuropsychiatric diseases in a unique way, likely involving a stress-related pathomechanism. Maltreated and non-maltreated individuals who reveal the same clinical symptoms differ significantly in brain circuits and networks, but also in response to treatment. There is urgent need for a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms that lead to such differing symptom phenotypes in psychiatric disorders in dependence of CM. CM, is significantly related to problems with emotion regulation, a key factor in trauma-related psychopathology. ER has repeatedly been shown to mediate the relationship between CM and subsequent psychopathology. Recent research points towards a close interaction of ER with a second key player, inflammatory activation. The relevance of inflammatory activation in neuropsychiatric disorders has been highlighted numerously. Importantly, inflammatory processes seem to be “enriched” in psychiatric patients who have experienced CM or even solely be present in trauma-exposed patients, pointing towards a unique “trauma-specific” signature in psychopathology. Recent research points towards a direct link between inflammation and ER, proposing that exposure to CM enlarges the bidirectional communication between peripheral immune cells to mediate stress-related inflammatory responses and brain circuits involved in emotional processing. ER and inflammatory activation thus are highly promising to mediate the link between CM and mental health together. This project aims to assess the role of emotion regulation skills and inflammation in the interplay between CM and mental health problems in a high-risk cohort of adolescents treated in child and adolescent psychiatry. We will perform the first empirical examination taking into account timing, duration and type of CM while also considering interaction between regulatory and inflammatory mechanisms.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants