Hostname: page-component-5c6d5d7d68-7tdvq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-08-16T12:30:41.227Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Salivary secretion and depressive illness: a physiological and psychometric study1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

Peter Noble
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, Denmark Hill, London
Malcolm Lader
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, Denmark Hill, London

Synopsis

Salivary secretion was measured in 34 depressed inpatients who were also assessed clinically and psychometrically. Thirty-one of the patients were reassessed two weeks after a course of ECT. Before ECT, diminished salivation was associated with retardation and gastrointestinal somatic symptoms. Overall, the patients' salivary secretion did not change after ECT. More detailed analysis showed that the salivary secretion of the more retarded patients was low before ECT and increased subsequently, whereas that of the least retarded patients was high before ECT and diminished subsequently. It is suggested that the relationship between retardation and salivation may explain some of the divergent results of previous studies.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1971

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Bogdanoff, M. D., Bogdanoff, M. M., and Wolf, S. G. (1961). Studies on salivary function in man: Variations in secretory rate as part of the individual's adaptive pattern. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 5, 170174.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, C. C. (1970). The parotid puzzle: A review of the literature on human salivation and its application to psychophysiology. Psychophysiology, 7, 6685.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Busfield, B. I. Jr, and Wechsler, H. (1961). Studies of salivation in depression. Archives of General Psychiatry, 4, 1015.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Carney, M. W., Roth, M., and Garside, R. F. (1965). The diagnosis of depressive syndromes and the prediction of E.C.T. response. British Journal of Psychiatry, 111, 659674.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Corcoran, D. W. (1964). The relationship between introversion and salivation. American Journal of Psychology, 77, 298300.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davies, B. M., and Gurland, J. B. (1961). Salivary secretion in depressive illness. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 5, 269271.Google Scholar
Davies, B. M., and Palmai, G. (1964). Salivary and blood pressure responses to methacholine in depressive illness. British Journal of Psychiatry, 110, 594598.Google Scholar
Eysenck, S. B. G., and Eysenck, H. J. (1967). Salivary response to lemon juice as a measure of introversion. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 24, 10471053.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Eysenck, H. J., and Yap, P. M. (1944). Parotid gland secretion in affective mental disorders. Journal of Mental Science, 90, 595602.Google Scholar
Gottlieb, G., and Paulson, G. (1961). Salivation in depressed patients. Archives of General Psychiatry, 5, 468471.Google Scholar
Hamilton, M. (1960). A rating scale for depression. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, 23, 5662.Google Scholar
Hemsi, L. K., Whitehead, A., and Post, F. (1968). Cognitive functioning and cerebral arousal in elderly depressives and dements. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 12, 145156.Google Scholar
Lader, M. H., and Wing, L. (1969). Physiological measures in agitated and retarded depressed patients. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 7, 89100.Google Scholar
Loew, D. (1965). Syndromes, diagnosis, and salivation in depressive patients. Psychopharmacologia, 7, 339348. (In German.)Google Scholar
Medical Research Council: Clinical Psychiatry Committee (1965). Clinical trial of the treatment of depressive illness. British Medical Journal, 1, 881886.Google Scholar
Noble, P. J., and Lader, M. H. (1971). Depressive illness, pulse rate and forearm blood flow. British Journal of Psychiatry (in press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Palmai, G., and Blackwell, B. (1965). The diurnal pattern of salivary flow in normal and depressed patients. British Journal of Psychiatry, 111, 334338.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Palmai, G., Blackwell, B., Maxwell, A. E., and Morgenstern, F. (1967). Patterns of salivary flow in depressive illness and during treatment. British Journal of Psychiatry, 113, 12971308.Google Scholar
Peck, R. E. (1959). The SHP Test: an aid in the detection and measurement of depression. Archives of General Psychiatry, 1, 3540.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Strongin, E. I., and Hinsie, L. E. (1938). Parotic gland secretions in manic-depressive patients. American journal of Psychiatry, 94, 14591466.Google Scholar