Melancholia and excessive CNV recovery after nonresponse condition.

The effect of nonresponse on the Cz-CNV recovery was studied in 13 depressed patients on the hypothesis that the excessive CNV recovery had a relation to melancholia. The depressed patients had a significantly small Control CNV area before the nonresponse as compared with a matched group of healthy controls. The dysthymic patients by the Maudsley Personality Inventory (MPI) showed a significantly smaller Control CNV area than the non-dysthymic patients. Melancholic patients who met the DSM-III criteria had a significantly longer control reaction time and more excessive CNV recovery than the non-melancholics. The excessive CNV recovery is useful as a predictor for melancholia, and the motivational facilitation and preparatory motor inhibition underlying the psychomotor retardation and hence "endogenous process" were discussed.