Biological psychiatry
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Biological psychiatry · Jun 2010
Review Meta AnalysisImpact of depression and antidepressant treatment on heart rate variability: a review and meta-analysis.
Depression is associated with an increase in the likelihood of cardiac events; however, studies investigating the relationship between depression and heart rate variability (HRV) have generally focused on patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD). The objective of the current report is to examine with meta-analysis the impact of depression and antidepressant treatment on HRV in depressed patients without CVD. ⋯ Depression without CVD is associated with reduced HRV, which decreases with increasing depression severity, most apparent with nonlinear measures of HRV. Critically, a variety of antidepressant treatments do not resolve these decreases despite resolution of symptoms, highlighting that antidepressant medications might not have HRV-mediated cardioprotective effects and the need to identify individuals at risk among patients in remission.
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Biological psychiatry · Jun 2010
Induction of depressed mood disrupts emotion regulation neurocircuitry and enhances pain unpleasantness.
Depressed mood alters the pain experience. Yet, despite its clear clinical relevance, little is known about the cognitive and neural mechanisms underlying this phenomenon. We tested an experimental manipulation to unravel the interaction between depressed mood and pain. We hypothesized that dysregulation of the neural circuitry underlying emotion regulation is the mechanism whereby pain processing is affected during depressed mood. ⋯ Our results inform how depressed mood and chronic pain co-occur clinically and may serve to develop and translate effective interventions using pharmacological or psychological treatment.