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Depressive symptoms in individuals with idiopathic subjective dry mouth
Author(s) -
Bergdahl Maud,
Bergdahl Jan,
Johansson Ingegerd
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
journal of oral pathology and medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.887
H-Index - 83
eISSN - 1600-0714
pISSN - 0904-2512
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0714.1997.tb00013.x
Subject(s) - dry mouth , sensation , depression (economics) , depressive symptoms , saliva , medicine , psychology , psychiatry , anxiety , neuroscience , economics , macroeconomics
It has been known for many centuries that there is a relationship between saliva flow rate and emotional status. The significance of psychological processes in the subjective sensation of a dry mouth has been discussed earlier, and this study deals with the presence of depressive symptoms in individuals with idiopathic subjective sensation of a dry mouth. Depressive symptoms in 94 healthy subjects with normal flow rates for unstimulated and stimulated whole saliva but with a subjective sensation of a dry mouth were assessed by the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and compared with healthy age‐ and gender‐matched controls. The subjects with a subjective dry mouth condition were significantly more depressive and also had a significantly higher frequency of depressive symptoms. Depression was found in 21.3% of the individuals with a subjective dry mouth sensation and in 3.2% of the controls. The results of this study indicate that, in some cases, subjective dry mouth may be of psychological origin.