Valid electrodermal hyporeactivity for depressive suicidal propensity offers links to cognitive theory

Abstract

The high discriminative validity and the emerging links over a proposed interest-limiting precognitive set to cognitive theory of suicide encourage clinical application of tests of electrodermal reactivity. The study offers a series of testable hypotheses constituting a new platform for suicidological research in depression.

Uncontrollable and unpredictable stress interacts with subclinical depression and anxiety scores in determining anxiety response

“…Similarly, high anxious individuals as well as patients with panic disorders and posttraumatic stress disorders showed elevated startle magnitudes in unpredictable stressor situations compared to healthy controls (Glotzbach-Schoon et al, 2013, Grillon et al, 2008, 2009. Consistent with these studies, we found interactions of depression traits (BDI) with controllability and interactions of anxiety traits (BAI) with predictability in self-reported state anxiety.…”

“…In participants with high BDI scores, on the other hand, unpredictability did increase arousal in the controllable condition, while it did not additionally affect it in the uncontrollable condition. It must be highlighted that the lower overall physiological arousal level in participants with higher BDI scores compared to participants with low BDI scores (see Figure 2A and Table 1) seems to be a characteristic finding in depressed individuals which has been reported on multiple occasions (Allen et al, 1999, Mardaga & Hansenne, 2009, McTeague et al, 2009, Thorell, 2009. Because of this, we restricted the interpretation of this finding to the relative effects of uncontrollability and unpredictability.…”

“…However, if the aversive event is not signaled by a cue and is thus unpredictable, there are no periods of safety and the individual remains in a state of sustained anxious anticipation. Furthermore, they demonstrated that anxiety of unpredictable but not predictable aversive events was increased in high anxious individuals and in patients with panic disorders and posttraumatic stress disorder (Glotzbach-Schoon et al, 2013, Grillon et al, 2008, 2009). …”

An Analysis of Resistance to Change Exposed in Individuals' Thoughts and Behaviors

“…These character dimensions relate to the frontal, temporal, and parietal neocortex, respectively, which regulate learning of facts and propositions. Thorell (2009), in his research of extraordinarily frequent electrodermal hyperactivity in depressed patients with suicidal propensity, formulated a functional model to describe the way in which some types of neurons function. He found that if one assumes inadequate activity of "sameness neurons," which inhibit the eliciting of orienting reactions to unexpected events (curiosity), a consequence might be that the person is hindered on a fundamental level from attending to events occurring in the environment in a normal way.…”

“…He found that if one assumes inadequate activity of "sameness neurons," which inhibit the eliciting of orienting reactions to unexpected events (curiosity), a consequence might be that the person is hindered on a fundamental level from attending to events occurring in the environment in a normal way. This would be considered a neurophysologically dictated resistance to change resulting in the loss of a specific kind of interest in everyday life (Thorell, 2009). …”