Tyler Mark P, Wright Bradley J, Raison Charles L, Lowry Christopher A, Evans Lynette, Hale Matthew W
School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria, Australia.
Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA.
Temperature (Austin). 2024 Jul 12;11(3):266-279. doi: 10.1080/23328940.2024.2374097. eCollection 2024.
The thermosensory system is relevant to both the conceptualization and treatment of depression. There is evidence that depression is associated with changes in thermoregulatory functioning, and that thermosensory pathways can be recruited to influence affect and reduce depressive symptoms. In this study, we investigated the relationship between severity of depressive symptoms and changes to measures of subjective experiences associated with thermoregulatory processes as well as the relationship between severity of depressive symptoms and affective responses to warm stimuli, specifically frequency of warmth-seeking behavior. Participants ( = 529) completed measures of depressive symptoms, subjective experiences associated with thermoregulatory processes (i.e., perceived sweating and preferred ambient temperature) and frequency of warmth-seeking behavior (e.g., long hot baths, saunas, etc.). We demonstrate that, controlling for age and gender, greater severity of depressive symptoms is associated with greater perceived sweating and lower preferred ambient temperature. Furthermore, we demonstrate that greater severity of depressive symptoms is associated with more frequent warmth-seeking behavior, and that something other than thermal preference (i.e., stated preference for warmer temperature) is driving this behavior. These data highlight the importance of incorporating the thermoregulatory system in our conceptualization of the pathophysiology of depression and support the potential to recruit thermosensory pathways to target depressive symptoms.
热感觉系统与抑郁症的概念化和治疗都相关。有证据表明,抑郁症与体温调节功能的变化有关,并且热感觉通路可被用来影响情绪并减轻抑郁症状。在本研究中,我们调查了抑郁症状的严重程度与体温调节过程相关的主观体验测量指标变化之间的关系,以及抑郁症状的严重程度与对温暖刺激的情感反应(特别是寻求温暖行为的频率)之间的关系。参与者(n = 529)完成了抑郁症状测量、与体温调节过程相关的主观体验测量(即感知出汗和偏好的环境温度)以及寻求温暖行为的频率测量(例如长时间热水浴、桑拿等)。我们证明,在控制年龄和性别后,抑郁症状越严重,感知出汗越多,偏好的环境温度越低。此外,我们证明抑郁症状越严重,寻求温暖行为越频繁,并且驱动这种行为的是除热偏好(即对更温暖温度的明确偏好)之外的其他因素。这些数据突出了将体温调节系统纳入我们对抑郁症病理生理学概念化的重要性,并支持利用热感觉通路来靶向治疗抑郁症状的潜力。