Psychosomatics 21: 472-477, 1980
Copyright
© 1980 Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine
Cardiovascular changes during acute depression
LORNA M. FORBES M.D.1, and
ROBERT H. CHANEY M.D.2
1 Professor of psychiatry at the University of Southern California School of Medicine
2 Assistant clinical professor of medicine at Loma Linda University School of Medicine
To evaluate the effect of depressed mood on cardiovascular response, we studied 43 office psychotherapy patients. Eleven of these patients manifested acute depression, 18 had overt anxiety, and 14 showed anger. We found that the heart rate and blood pressure increased, and electrocardiographic changes occurred more frequently in depressed patients, in a degree comparable to the changes seen in patients with anxiety or anger. These findings are consistent with other reports indicating increased sympathoadrenal activity in other organ systems during depression and suggest that the treatment of depression must include attention to the patient's physical arousal state as well as to his mental status.
