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Autonomic Correlates of Depression and Clinical Improvement Following Electroconvulsive Shock Therapy
Author(s) -
Dawson Michael E.,
Schell Anne M.,
Catania Jeffrey J.
Publication year - 1977
Publication title -
psychophysiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.661
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1469-8986
pISSN - 0048-5772
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-8986.1977.tb01201.x
Subject(s) - electroconvulsive therapy , psychology , tonic (physiology) , arousal , skin conductance , heart rate , depression (economics) , major depressive disorder , anesthesia , psychiatry , medicine , neuroscience , blood pressure , cognition , biomedical engineering , economics , macroeconomics
Electrodermal responses (EDRs) and heart rate (HR) were recorded during a variety of tasks from 20 hospitalized depressed patients before and after a series of electroconvulsive shock treatments (ECTs). The depressed patients, compared to nondepressed controls during the pre‐ECT test, exhibited lower skin conductance levels, smaller phasic skin conductance responses with longer latencies, higher tonic HR, and smaller HR changes to stimuli. This response pattern suggests a complex state of “environmental rejection” coupled with “low arousal” in the depressed patients. Certain EDR measures were related to the severity of depressive symptomatology while tonic HR was related to the agitation/retardation symptoms. Patients who subsequently responded well following ECT were more like the controls on certain pre‐treatment measures than those who failed to respond favorably. There were little EDR or HR changes following ECT and what changes did occur were unrelated to differences in clinical improvement. It was suggested that, despite temporary clinical improvement following ECT, depressed patients have a chronic affective disorder which is reflected in the EDR and HR measures.