We present here results from studies of the characteristics of autonomic disorders in moderately severe anxious and anxious-melancholic endogenomorphic depression. A total of 36 patients with recurrent depressive disorders and ongoing depressive episode of moderate severity (ICD-10) took part in the study and showed a reduction in the total variability of the heart rhythm with retention of the balance of activity of the sympathetic, parasympathetic, and suprasegmental ergotropic components of the autonomic nervous system. The authors interpret this as evidence for loss of functional flexibility in autonomic regulation, which is apparent clinically as a reduction in tolerance to normal loads and extreme reactions to them. These changes became more severe with increases in age, duration of illness, and number of depressive episodes in the history. Changes in the body’s regulatory systems (particularly the autonomic) in depression are quite stable and do not achieve complete normalization with treatment.
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Translated from Zhurnal Nevrologii i Psikhiatrii imeni S. S. Korsakova, Vol. 113, No. 11, Iss. 2, Depression, pp. 65–73, November, 2013.
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Antipova, O.S., Krasnov, V.N. & Trofimova, O.S. Changes in Autonomic Regulation in Moderate Depressive Disorders. Neurosci Behav Physi 45, 404–412 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11055-015-0089-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11055-015-0089-5