Abstract
Major depressive disorder (MDD) is characterized by dysphoric mood, which may be accompanied by suicidal ideation. It is supposed that MDD is associated with dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system, but studies in pediatric patients are rare. Therefore, we aimed to study the relationship between MDD and autonomic regulation in adolescence using the electrodermal activity as an index of sympathetic cholinergic control. We examined 25 adolescents suffering from MDD without comorbidities and prior to pharmacotherapy (13 girls, mean age 14.6 ± 0.4 year) and 25 age/gender-matched healthy control subjects. The electrodermal activity was continuously recorded during 5 min of supine rest. The value of this activity in μS was averaged for each minute of the recording. We found that in depressed patients, electrodermal activity was significantly lower each minute of the recording compared to that in the control group. The study demonstrates electrodermal hypoactivity in adolescent patients with MDD, which points to dysfunctional regulation of the sympathetic part of the autonomic nervous system. This finding could represent a potential pathomechanism leading to higher risk of negative health outcomes in pediatric depressed patients. Further research is needed to elucidate the incompletely understood interaction between MDD and autonomic regulatory outputs at young age.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
APA (2013) Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders DSM-5, 5th edn. American Psychiatric Association Publishing, Arlington, VA, p 160
Boucsein W (2012) Electrodermal activity. In: Aggleton JP (ed) The Amygdala: a functional analysis, 2nd edn. Springer Science + Business Media, LLC, New York, pp 33–38
Cacioppo JT, Tassinary LG, Berntson GG (eds) (2007) Handbook of psychophysiology. 3rd edn. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, Chapter 7, pp 159–181
Carney RM, Freedland KE (2009) Depression and heart rate variability in patients with coronary heart disease. Cleve Clin J Med 76:13–17
Crowell SE, Beauchaine TP, Hsiao RC, Vasilev CA, Yaptanqco M, Linehan MM, McCauley E (2012) Differentiating adolescent self-injury from adolescent depression: possible implications for borderline personality development. J Abnorm Child Psychol 40:45–57
Dawson ME, Schell AM, Catania JJ (1977) Autonomic correlates of depression and clinical improvement following electroconvulsive shock therapy. Psychophysiology 14:569–578
Drevets WC, Zarate CA Jr, Furey ML (2013) Antidepressant effects of the muscarinic cholinergic receptor antagonist scopolamine: a review. Biol Psychiatry 73:1156–1163
Fowles DC (1980) The three arousal model: implications of gray’s two-factor learning theory for heart rate, electrodermal activity, and psychopathy. Psychophysiology 17:87–104
Jacobs SC, Friedman R, Parker JD, Tofler GH, Jimenez AH, Muller JE, Benson H, Stone PH (1994) Use of skin conductance changes during mental stress testing as an index of autonomic arousal in cardiovascular research. Am Heart J 128:1170–1177
Kasch KL, Rottenberg J, Arnow BA, Gotlib IH (2002) Behavioral activation and inhibition systems and the severity and course of depression. J Abnorm Psychol 111:589–597
Miller GA (ed) (1995) The behavioral high-risk paradigm in Psychopathology, 1st edn. Springer Science + Business Media, LLC, New York, pp 223–225
Myers-Schulz B, Koenigs M (2012) Functional anatomy of ventromedial prefrontal cortex: implications for mood and anxiety disorders. Mol Psychiatry 17:132–141
Price JL, Drevets WC (2010) Neurocircuitry of mood, disorders. Neuropsychopharmacology 35:1192–1216
Schnur DB (1990) Effects of neuroleptics on electrodermal activity in schizophrenic patients: a review. Psychopharmacology 102:429–437
Tonhajzerova I, Ondrejka JM, Adamik P, Turianikova Z, Kerna V, Javorka K, Calkovska A (2009) Respiratory sinus arrhythmia is reduced in adolescent major depressive disorder. Eur J Med Res 7:280–283
Tonhajzerova I, Ondrejka I, Javorka K, Turianikova Z, Farsky I, Javorka M (2010) Cardiac autonomic regulation is impaired in girls with major depression. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry 34:613–618
Tonhajzerova I, Ondrejka I, Chladekova L, Farsky I, Visnovcova Z, Calkovska A, Jurko A, Javorka M (2012) Heart rate time irreversibility is impaired in adolescent major depression. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry 39:1212–1217
Toone BK, Cooke E, Lader MH (1981) Electrodermal activity in the affective disorders and schizophrenia. Psychol Med 11:487–508
Ward NG, Doerr HO, Storrie MC (1983) Skin conductance: a potentially sensitive test for depression. Psychiatry Res 10:295–302
Williams KM, Iacono WG, Remick RA (1985) Electrodermal activity among subtypes of depression. Biol Psychiatry 20:158–162
Wolfersdorf M, Straub R, Barg T, Keller F (1996) Depression and electrodermal response measures in a habituation experiment. Results from over 400 depressed inpatients. Fortschr Neurol Psychiatr 3:105–109
Zhang S, Hu S, Chao HH, Ide JS, Luo X, Farr OM, Li CS (2014) Ventromedial prefrontal cortex and the regulation of physiological arousal. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 9:900–908
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by National Research Grant VEGA 1/0087/14, Comenius University Grant UK/151/2016, and the project “Biomedical Center Martin” ITMS code: 26220220187, the project is co-financed from EU sources.
Conflicts of Interest
The authors declare no conflicts of interest in relation to this article.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Mestanikova, A., Ondrejka, I., Mestanik, M., Hrtanek, I., Snircova, E., Tonhajzerova, I. (2016). Electrodermal Activity in Adolescent Depression. In: Pokorski, M. (eds) Pulmonary Infection and Inflammation. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology(), vol 935. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/5584_2016_40
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/5584_2016_40
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-44484-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-44485-7
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)