Intensified emotion perception in depression: Differences in physiological arousal and subjective perceptions

Abstract

People suffering from depression perceive themselves and their surroundings as more negative than healthy ones. An explanation might be that depressed individuals experience negative information as more stressful than non-depressed subjects and, consequently, respond in an amplified manner on a subjective and physiological level. To test this proposition, we presented 41 patients with recurrent depressive episodes and 42 controls with stimuli from the International Affective Picture System split into three valence categories while different parameters of physiological arousal (e.g., heart rate variability) and subjective perceptions of valence and arousal were assessed. Furthermore, we examined social skills and emotional competence. Results regarding physiological arousal revealed an elevated skin temperature and a more accentuated respiratory frequency in depressed subjects. Furthermore, depressed subjects rated the stimuli as more negative and arousing, which was associated with reduced social and emotional competence. Variation in antidepressant medication, menstrual cycle and other factors that have an impact on HRV are a potential bias. Our findings suggest an intensified perception of negative emotion in depressed individuals as compared to controls that manifests itself in an increased physiological arousal as well as on a subjective level. This intensified emotion perception is further associated with deficits in social and emotional competence.

E-happiness physiological indicators of construction workers' productivity: A machine learning approach

“…These biological changes are associated with other physiological parameters, which can be measured by cardiovascular responses such as increased heart rate (HR), blood pressure (BP), respiratory frequency and a change in skin conductance levels as a response to negative emotions or normal cardiovascular responses in response to positive or neutral emotional states (Barak 2006;Guo, Mrug, and Knight 2017). Wenzler et al (2017) tested 41 patients with recurrent depressive disorder and assessed their heart rate variability (HRV), galvanic skin response (GSR), skin temperature (TEMP) and respiratory frequency (RF). The research data revealed an increased TEMP (because of an elevated GSR) and RF in depressed patients compared to those in the controls (Wenzler et al 2017).…”

“…Wenzler et al (2017) tested 41 patients with recurrent depressive disorder and assessed their heart rate variability (HRV), galvanic skin response (GSR), skin temperature (TEMP) and respiratory frequency (RF). The research data revealed an increased TEMP (because of an elevated GSR) and RF in depressed patients compared to those in the controls (Wenzler et al 2017). In another recent study, Ironson et al (2018) examined the association between positive emotional well-being and an inflammatory biomarker, C-reactive protein (CRP), which is associated with cardiovascular disorders, obesity, type II diabetes, depression and posttraumatic stress disorder.…”

Autonomic reactivity to emotion: A marker of sub‐clinical anxiety and depression symptoms?

“…Despite the wealth of literature on anxiety and depression, there is no consensus about how they modulate autonomic reactivity to the arousal and valence dimensions of emotional stimulation. In anxiety, there is evidence of both autonomic hyperreactivity (Schwerdtfeger, 2006) and hyporeactivity (Naveteur et al, 1987) to emotion, while depression has been either associated with greater reactivity to unpleasant stimuli (Wenzler et al., 2017), a lower reactivity to pleasant ones (Bylsma et al., 2008) or with a blunt reactivity to emotional content (Rottenberg et al., 2005). Hence, the modulation of autonomic responses to emotional dimensions by sub‐clinical and clinical anxiety and depression symptomatology remains to be characterized.…”

Linking physical and social environments with mental health in old age: a multisensor approach for continuous real-life ecological and emotional assessment

“…The latter objective is related to the ‘negative bias’ or propensity of depressed people to perceive everyday life situations and surrounding environments as worse and more stressful than they are. 18…”