Psychophysiological Discriminants of Reactive Depression

McCarron, Lawrence T.

doi:10.1111/j.1469-8986.1973.tb00520.x

Cited by 29 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…We limited our study to women to increase the homogeneity of our sample. Although our sample size fell at the low end of the range of sample sizes of other studies of depression and emotion, it was comparable with those of studies conducted with members of other ethnic groups (e.g., Donat & McCollough, 1983;McCarron, 1973;Schwartz et aI., 1976aSchwartz et aI., , 1976b. Women were not included in the study if they were pregnant, taking any neuroleptic medication, or taking any nonneuroleptic medication that would alter their autonomic activity.…”

Section: Participantssupporting

confidence: 76%

The effects of depression on the emotional responses of Spanish-speaking Latinas.

Tsai¹,

Pole²,

Levenson³

et al. 2003

Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology

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Emotional responses (physiology, self-report, and facial expression) of 12 depressed and 10 nondepressed Spanish-speaking Latinas during sad and amusing film clips of human and animal content were compared. Depressed Latinas demonstrated less electrodermal reactivity across all the film clips and displayed fewer social smiles during the amusing-human film clip than nondepressed Latinas. No differences emerged for cardiovascular measures, reports of emotion, or facial expressions of happiness and negative emotion. Observed differences in electrodermal reactivity are similar to results from previous studies of Anglo Americans, suggesting that reduced electrodermal activity may be linked to depression across cultures. The findings also suggest that, for Latinas, depression may selectively alter expressions that serve interpersonal functions.

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Section: Participantssupporting

confidence: 76%

The effects of depression on the emotional responses of Spanish-speaking Latinas.

Tsai¹,

Pole²,

Levenson³

et al. 2003

Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology

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show abstract

“…In fact, so reliable is the association between decreased sweating and depression, that daytime resting skin conductance was proposed in the 1980s as a potentially sensitive and specific marker for depression (Ward et al, 1983 ). This suggestion was based on repeated findings that mean basal skin conductance levels are lower in unmedicated or medicated depressed subjects compared with controls and that low daytime resting skin conductance levels are highly predictive of MDD (McCarron, 1973 ; Dawson et al, 1977 , 1985 ; Mirkin and Coppen, 1980 ; Carney et al, 1981 ; Donat and McCullough, 1983 ; Ward et al, 1983 ; Williams et al, 1985 ; Ward and Doerr, 1986 ).…”

Section: Evidence Linking Thermosensation With Affective States Relevmentioning

confidence: 99%

Somatic influences on subjective well-being and affective disorders: the convergence of thermosensory and central serotonergic systems

et al. 2015

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Current theories suggest that the brain is the sole source of mental illness. However, affective disorders, and major depressive disorder (MDD) in particular, may be better conceptualized as brain-body disorders that involve peripheral systems as well. This perspective emphasizes the embodied, multifaceted physiology of well-being, and suggests that afferent signals from the body may contribute to cognitive and emotional states. In this review, we focus on evidence from preclinical and clinical studies suggesting that afferent thermosensory signals contribute to well-being and depression. Although thermoregulatory systems have traditionally been conceptualized as serving primarily homeostatic functions, increasing evidence suggests neural pathways responsible for regulating body temperature may be linked more closely with emotional states than previously recognized, an affective warmth hypothesis. Human studies indicate that increasing physical warmth activates brain circuits associated with cognitive and affective functions, promotes interpersonal warmth and prosocial behavior, and has antidepressant effects. Consistent with these effects, preclinical studies in rodents demonstrate that physical warmth activates brain serotonergic neurons implicated in antidepressant-like effects. Together, these studies suggest that (1) thermosensory pathways interact with brain systems that control affective function, (2) these pathways are dysregulated in affective disorders, and (3) activating warm thermosensory pathways promotes a sense of well-being and has therapeutic potential in the treatment of affective disorders.

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“…Some investigators have reported differences in skin resistance levels of depressed and non-depressed subjects (e.g. Janssen & Topman, 1971 ;McCarron, 1973) and differences in the skin resistance levels of anxious and depressed subjects (e.g. Gilberstadt & Maley, 1965).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The use of electrophotographic techniques in differentiating state depression and state anxiety

Hovsepian¹,

Rupert²

1983

British J of Psychology

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The ability of electrophotographic techniques to differentiate levels of state anxiety and state depression were investigated. Forty male and female undergraduate students, who were screened with the DACL, STAI, and Mini-Mult and who met certain dietary and medicinal restrictions, had the index finger of their left hand electrophotographed. In addition, the skin resistance level of these subjects was assessed. The discharge patterns produced by these electrophotographs were rated by two volunteer judges using a seven-point scoring system. The differences in discharge pattern ratings and skin resistance levels between high and low anxious subjects were significant, with high anxious subjects having lower-rated discharge patterns and higher skin resistance levels. No significant differences were obtained with either measure for the depression variable or the interaction effect. Interestingly, there was no significant relationship between skin resistance and discharge ratings. Regression analyses indicated that each measure accounted for unique sources of variance, with skin resistance being the best predictor of anxiety.

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Psychophysiological Discriminants of Reactive Depression

Cited by 29 publications

References 15 publications

The effects of depression on the emotional responses of Spanish-speaking Latinas.

The effects of depression on the emotional responses of Spanish-speaking Latinas.

Somatic influences on subjective well-being and affective disorders: the convergence of thermosensory and central serotonergic systems

The use of electrophotographic techniques in differentiating state depression and state anxiety

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