Table 1.
The list of the key: (A) literature which investigated guilt and shame in MDD and (B) neuroimaging literature which investigated guilt and shame.
| Reference | Sample | Method | Moral emotion | Scale | Main conclusion |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (A) | |||||
| Demiralp et al. (2012) | MDD | Behavioral | Guilt/shame | PANAS | Inability to differentiate between negative emotions in MDD |
| Bryan et al. (2013) | MDD | Behavioral | Guilt/shame | Harder personal feelings questionnaire | Shame correlates significantly with depression severity |
| Bi et al. (2012) | MDD | Behavioral | Guilt | SCID | Excessive guilt in suicide attempters |
| Kim et al. (2011) | MDD | Meta-analysis | Guilt/shame | – | Significant relationship between shame and depressive symptoms |
| Marx et al. (2010) | MDD | Behavioral | Guilt | Laufer-parsons inventory | Combat-related guilt mediates MDD diagnosis |
| Luby et al. (2009) | MDD | Behavioral | Guilt/shame | Story stem task | Shame correlates significantly with depression severity |
| O’Connor et al. (2002) | MDD | Behavioral | Guilt | IPGQ-67 | Survivor and omnipotent responsibility guilt correlates with self-reported severity of symptoms |
| Berrios et al. (1992) | MDD | Behavioral | Guilt | Novel guilt scale | Guilt scores correlate with self-reported symptoms |
| (B) | |||||
| Morey et al. (2012) | Healthy subjects | fMRI | Guilt | Novel guilt scale | Guilt activates dmPFC and vlPFC |
| Green et al. (2012) | Remitted MDD | fMRI | Guilt/shame | Value related moral sentiments task | Decoupling between sgACC and aTL for guilt in MDD |
| Wagner et al. (2011) | Healthy subjects | fMRI | Guilt | Trait guilt questionnaire | Guilt activates right OFC |
| Moll et al. (2011) | Patients with FTD | PET | Guilt | Moral sentiments task | Hypoactivations in the frontopolar cortex and the septal region are associated with impairments in processing prosocial sentiments, including guilt and pity |
| Basile et al. (2011) | Healthy subjects | fMRI | Guilt | Deontological versus altruistic guilt | Deontological guilt activates dorsal and ventral anterior cingulate, whereas altruistic guilt activates frontopolar cortex (BA 9/10) |
| Zahn et al. (2009a,b) | Healthy subjects | fMRI | Guilt | Moral sentiments task | Activity in the sgACC in guilt relative to neutral condition, correlates significantly with offline empathic concern ratings |
| Zahn et al. (2009a,b) | Healthy subjects | fMRI | Guilt | Value related moral sentiments task | Guilt in negative self agency conditions activates septal/sgACC and regions of vmPFC |
| Moll et al. (2007a,b) | Healthy subjects | fMRI | Guilt | Moral sentiments task | Guilt relative to neutral condition activated frontopolar cortex and STS |
| Berthoz et al. (2006) | Healthy subjects | fMRI | Guilt | Intentional and accidental moral violations | Guilt activates amygdala bilaterally |
| Takahashi et al. (2004) | Healthy subjects | fMRI | Guilt | Guilt-embarrassment scale | Guilt activates mPFC and posterior STS |
| Shin et al. (2000) | Healthy subjects | PET | Guilt | Autobiographical guilt | Increased regional cerebral blood flow in anterior cingulate and anterior insula, and decreased rCBF in posterior insula during guilt versus neutral condition |
Studies were listed chronologically (the most recent first), so that advancements and limitations in this field of research can be observed.