Video-analytic study of manual kinesics and its lateralization in the course of treatment of depressive syndromes.

Video-taped interviews of 47, predominantly endogenous depressive in-patients, recorded on days 0 and 21 of pharmacotherapy were analysed with respect to frequency, duration and side-preference of defined hand movements. The data were related to clinical improvement or deterioration as assessed by judgement of the syndromal aspects: retardation and agitation. 1. Above all, improvement is marked by a decrease of Continuous body-focused movements (C) and an increase of Object-focused movements (O) of the speech primacy type (OS)-deterioration by an increase of C and decrease of OS. 2. The degree of retardation corresponds to O, the degree of agitation, above all to C. 3. O show no side-preference with a higher degree of retardation or agitation respectively, but a marked right perference with a lower degree of retardation or agitation, Discrete body touching (D) shows a left preference only, with a higher degree of retardation. A comparison of sidedness of O between interviews 1 and 2 shows no lateralization trend, either in the improvement or the deterioration group. In contrast, D changed from left weightiness to symmetry, coinciding with improvement but not with deterioration, With reference to the latter findings we discuss the possibility of a particular mode of cerebral lateralization predisposing to endogenous depression.