Retardation in depression: assessment by means of simple motor tasks.
BACKGROUND
Psychomotor retardation in depression has mostly been assessed with tasks requiring both cognitive and motor processes. This study tested whether retardation could be measured if the cognitive demands of the task were minimal.


METHODS
30 inpatients with a major depressive episode were compared one week after the start of antidepressant treatment, to 30 healthy control persons, matched for age, sex and educational level. Tests consisted of ten simple drawing tasks. The kinematics of drawing movements were recorded using a specially designed pen, a graphics tablet and a personal computer.


RESULTS
Patients showed marked motor slowing on all the tasks: longer movement durations, longer pauses and lower velocities.


CONCLUSIONS
Psychomotor retardation in depressed patients treated with antidepressants occurs during drawing tasks, in which the cognitive demands are minimal and less than those required in the figure copying tasks used in our previous studies.


CONCLUSIONS
The use of co-medication can have influenced the results, although no correlations were found between the use of medication and the kinematic variables.


CONCLUSIONS
Detailed registration and analysis of drawing movements enable a more precise diagnosis of psychomotor disturbances in depressed patients.
Sabbe
B
B
Department of Psychiatry, University of Nijmegen, Netherlands.
Hulstijn
W
W
van Hoof
J
J
Tuynman-Qua
H G
HG
Zitman
F
F
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D018687:Antidepressive Agents, Second-Generation / Q000008:administration & dosage; D000929:Antidepressive Agents, Tricyclic / Q000008:administration & dosage; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D003196:Computer Graphics; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000523:psychology; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005260:Female; D005473:Fluoxetine / Q000008:administration & dosage; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011596:Psychomotor Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000523:psychology; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000187:drug effects; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000187:drug effects; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted
D018687:Antidepressive Agents, Second-Generation; D000929:Antidepressive Agents, Tricyclic; D005473:Fluoxetine