Study of Galvanic Skin Response in Patients of Moderate Depression

Pages: 29-31
Sat Pal, Neena Mishra, Priti Singh, Sushma Sood, and Harish Kumar (Department of Physiology, Pt. B. D. Sharma PGIMS, Rohtak, Haryana)

With the rapid development the society the persons are having feelings o f sadness, loss, anger, or frustrations which interfere with everyday life for an extended period o f time resulting in the appearance o f various psychological problems, out o f which depression is most common having a prevalance o f 15.1% in India. Severe depression causes various physiological abnormalities leading to various co-morbid conditions. But there is very little literature available about moderate depression; hence the present study is designed to study the effect o f moderate depression on the autonomic system by galvanic skin response and cold pressor test. We studied 40 male patients (to avoid gender difference) o f moderate depression and 40 normal subjects of* same age group at rest in supine position (to avoid posture effect). Galvanic skin response was recorded and compared between these two groups. Comparison of*these two groups showed that GSR is not significantly different in moderate depression patients than that from the normal subjects. Though the major depression is associated with various co- morbid conditions but moderate depression hardly affects the autonomic system. Hence it is better to diagnose and treat the depression at moderate state.