{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,7]],"date-time":"2026-10-07T18:19:40Z","timestamp":1791397180230,"version":"4.3.3"},"reference-count":45,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"8","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,8,5]],"date-time":"2020-08-05T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1596585600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Brain Sciences"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background: Major depressive disorder (MDD) has different clinical presentations and is associated with neurobiological alterations. Hopelessness, anhedonia, and dissociation represent some of the most pervasive psychopathological symptoms that often lead to suicidal thoughts, attempts, and actions. To further research on the concept of depression endophenotypes, this study aimed to assess the possible relationships between hopelessness and other clinical and biological correlates (i.e., striatal dopaminergic dysfunction) in depressed patients. Methods: We recruited 51 subjects with MDD. All subjects underwent 123I-FP-CIT SPECT to assess striatal dopamine transporter (DAT) availability and a psychometric evaluation using the psychometric scale to assess depressive, anxious, dissociative, and hopelessness symptoms aside from suicidal ideation. Result: An inverse correlation between the hopelessness score and dopamine transporter availability in all basal ganglia was bilaterally found. (Right Putamen, r = \u22120.445, p &lt; 0.01; Left Putamen, r = \u22120.454, p &lt; 0.01; Right Caudate, r = \u22120.398, p &lt; 0.01; Left Caudate, r = \u22120.467, p &lt; 0.01) Moreover, a positive correlation was also found between hopelessness and dissociative symptoms. Conclusions: These results provide important evidence on the neurobiological and clinical correlates of different psychopathological symptoms of depression with potential implications in terms of devising more effective treatment programs.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/brainsci10080519","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,8,5]],"date-time":"2020-08-05T06:02:21Z","timestamp":1596607341000},"page":"519","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":46,"title":["Hopelessness, Dissociative Symptoms, and Suicide Risk in Major Depressive Disorder: Clinical and Biological Correlates"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"10","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4164-3040","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mauro","family":"Pettorruso","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Neuroscience, Imaging and Clinical Sciences, \u201cG. d\u2019Annunzio\u201d University, Via dei Vestini 33, 66013 Chieti, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6808-3960","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Giacomo","family":"d\u2019Andrea","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Neuroscience, Imaging and Clinical Sciences, \u201cG. d\u2019Annunzio\u201d University, Via dei Vestini 33, 66013 Chieti, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Giovanni","family":"Martinotti","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Neuroscience, Imaging and Clinical Sciences, \u201cG. d\u2019Annunzio\u201d University, Via dei Vestini 33, 66013 Chieti, Italy"},{"name":"Department of Pharmacy, Pharmacology, Clinical Science, University of Hertfordshire, Herts AL109AB, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Fabrizio","family":"Cocciolillo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Unit\u00e0 Operativa Complessa di Medicina Nucleare, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCS, 00168 Roma, Italia"},{"name":"Istituto di Medicina Nucleare, Universit\u00e0 Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 00168 Roma, Italia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2431-0460","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Andrea","family":"Miuli","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Neuroscience, Imaging and Clinical Sciences, \u201cG. d\u2019Annunzio\u201d University, Via dei Vestini 33, 66013 Chieti, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4951-215X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ilenia","family":"Di Muzio","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Neuroscience, Imaging and Clinical Sciences, \u201cG. d\u2019Annunzio\u201d University, Via dei Vestini 33, 66013 Chieti, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2701-6929","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Rebecca","family":"Collevecchio","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Neuroscience, Imaging and Clinical Sciences, \u201cG. d\u2019Annunzio\u201d University, Via dei Vestini 33, 66013 Chieti, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7674-727X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Valeria","family":"Verrastro","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, Magna Graecia University of Catanzaro, 88100 Catanzaro, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7433-0924","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Fabio","family":"De-Giorgio","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Section of Legal Medicine, Institute of Public Health, Universit\u00e0 Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 00168 Rome, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Luigi","family":"Janiri","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychiatry, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario \u201cA. Gemelli\u201d IRCCS, 00168 Rome, Italy"},{"name":"Institute of Psychiatry, Universit\u00e0 Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 00168 Rome, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Massimo","family":"di Giannantonio","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Neuroscience, Imaging and Clinical Sciences, \u201cG. d\u2019Annunzio\u201d University, Via dei Vestini 33, 66013 Chieti, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Daniela","family":"Di Giuda","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Unit\u00e0 Operativa Complessa di Medicina Nucleare, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCS, 00168 Roma, Italia"},{"name":"Istituto di Medicina Nucleare, Universit\u00e0 Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 00168 Roma, Italia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Giovanni","family":"Camardese","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychiatry, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario \u201cA. Gemelli\u201d IRCCS, 00168 Rome, Italy"},{"name":"Institute of Psychiatry, Universit\u00e0 Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 00168 Rome, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,8,5]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"537","DOI":"10.1038\/nature11740","article-title":"Dopamine Neurons Modulate Neural Encoding and Expression of Depression-Related Behaviour","volume":"493","author":"Tye","year":"2013","journal-title":"Nature"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"17","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jad.2013.01.004","article-title":"Risk Factors for Suicide in Individuals with Depression: A Systematic Review","volume":"147","author":"Hawton","year":"2013","journal-title":"J. Affect. 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