RESPIRATORY SINUS ARRHYTHMIA IN DEPRESSION

• Authors: Rynkiewicz A.
• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

EN

Early and accurate diagnosis and possibility of differentiating forms of depression is an important aim for psychiatrists. Psychophysiologists try to analyze respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) as a valuable index, which can have utility in this field. RSA is a natural variability of heart rate, with frequency equal to frequency of breathing. An origin of RSA is quite complex, since this arrhythmia is influenced by vagus nerve activity as well as by the central respiratory generator, which controls the movements of the lungs. It is possible, that different factors responsible for frequency and amplitude of RSA are independent of each other. An interesting conception, which tries to explain a mechanism underlying RSA, is the Porges' theory. In this researcher opinion a periodic fluctuations in heart rate are connected with physiological self-regulatory processes. A heart rate variability assessment is usually executed on the basis of tachogram. The spectral analysis allows its decomposition into components of different frequencies. Summarized amplitude of fluctuations in each band of frequency is derived from the power function. The value of this function for about 0.2 Hz is the RSA level. Among depressed individuals, as well as among patients with some other pathologies, low RSA is observed. Different therapeutic methods, which reduce symptoms and improve a patient state, also significantly increase RSA amplitude. These observations lead to conclusion that low RSA is associated with emotion regulation difficulties observed in patients with depression.

Keywords

EN

DEPRESSION; HEART RATE VARIABILITY; RESPIRATORY SINUS ARRHYTHMIA

Discipline

• PSYCHOLOGY: PSYCHOLOGY

• Publisher: Interdyscyplinarne Centrum Genetyki Zachowania (ICGZ) Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
• Journal: Psychologia-Etologia-Genetyka
• Year: 2006
• Volume: 14
• Pages: 81-108
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Rynkiewicz A.

• A. Rynkiewicz, Uniwersytet Warszawski, Wydzial Psychologii, ul. Stawki 5-7, 00-183 Warszawa, Poland

Identifiers

CEJSH db identifier

06PLAAAA01593495