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Salivary secretion and depressive illness: a physiological and psychometric study1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

Peter Noble
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, Denmark Hill, London
Malcolm Lader
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, Denmark Hill, London

Synopsis

Salivary secretion was measured in 34 depressed inpatients who were also assessed clinically and psychometrically. Thirty-one of the patients were reassessed two weeks after a course of ECT. Before ECT, diminished salivation was associated with retardation and gastrointestinal somatic symptoms. Overall, the patients' salivary secretion did not change after ECT. More detailed analysis showed that the salivary secretion of the more retarded patients was low before ECT and increased subsequently, whereas that of the least retarded patients was high before ECT and diminished subsequently. It is suggested that the relationship between retardation and salivation may explain some of the divergent results of previous studies.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1971

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