Electrodermal activity in relation to diagnostic subgroups and symptoms of depressive patients

Abstract

The electrodermal activity (EDA) in 59 depressive patients was investigated during stimulation with neutral tone stimuli. The patients were classified according to six dichotomies: 1) dysthymic disorder vs major depressive episode (DSM-III); 2) melancholic vs nonmelancholic major depressive episode (DSM-III); 3) endogenous vs nonendogenous (Newcastle scale); 4) high vs low inhibition; 5) psychomotor inhibition vs agitation; and 6) indices of high vs low hypothalamic disturbance. The low EDA usually found in depressive patients seems to be more pronounced in endogenous patients and in patients with symptoms of inhibition. Relationships between indices of hypothalamic dysfunction and low EDA were found, but lacked homogeneity. Early debut and long duration of current depression were related to small magnitude of the skin conductance response.

Electrodermal activity in low back pain patients with and without co-morbid depression

“…This pain-associated depression could exert a depleting influence on the EDA of the affected patients, leading to overall non-significant results. Indeed in non-chronic pain samples, a reduced EDA, especially SCL, has been observed in depressed patients in general or in most subtypes of acutely ill, depressed patients (Dawson et al, 1977;Williams et al, 1985;Thorell et al, 1987) as well as in remitted patients (Iacono et al, 1983(Iacono et al, , 1984. Negative or opposite findings are rare as, for instance, in agitated depression (Lader and Wing, 1969;Lapierre and Butter, 1980) or seasonal affective disorders (Austen and Wilson, 2001).…”

“…Negative or opposite findings are rare as, for instance, in agitated depression (Lader and Wing, 1969;Lapierre and Butter, 1980) or seasonal affective disorders (Austen and Wilson, 2001). The reduced EDA was often interpreted as a physiologic trait characteristic of susceptibility to depression (Iacono et al, 1983(Iacono et al, , 1984 and cannot be fully explained by an anticholinergic effect of antidepressive drugs (Thorell et al, 1987;Barg et al, 1996). In the case of physical pain, data are scarce.…”

Correlation between Skin Potential Response and Psychopathology in Patients with Affective Disorders

“…While only general levels of skin conductance were examined in most previous studies [6,10], we employed a fixed sequence of extero-, intero-and proprioceptive stimuli to describe the relationship between skin potential responses and PI. It is known that different sensory modalities evoke differential autonomic responses [28].…”

“…Since the autonomic nervous system is involved in the manifestation (and somewhat in the origin) of affective disorders [6,10,[24][25][26][27], we considered it worthwhile to analyze whether skin potential responses could be related to the psychopathology index (PI), calculated as the aver age of the scores obtained in the clinically relevant scales of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), in patients with affective disorders.…”

“…Since then, numerous studies have been published in the field of psychophysiology based upon changes in skin con ductance and resistance level (also called exosomatic recording), this methodology being widely applied in psy chiatric practice and research [2][3][4], For example, exoso matic recordings have been useful for the study of patients with depression [5][6][7][8][9][10], schizophrenia [7,9], anxiety dis orders [8,10] or personality disorders [11], In contrast to skin conductance and resistance, emo tionally evoked changes in skin potential levels (endosomatic recordings) have been less examined. Tarchanoff [12] was the first to describe skin potential changes in association with emotional stimuli, but only lately endosomatic recordings were subjected to a more detailed examination [13].…”