Are you prone to depression? Look at your skin!

Stress and depression can have a very negative impact on a person's health. But it is very difficult to identify and warn in advance those patients who are prone to developing such pathological conditions. Scientists representing the Australian University of Newcastle shared their confidence that such a tendency can be determined and predicted quite accurately if we examine a person's skin. For example, this refers to the reaction of sweating to pre-pulse inhibition - a decrease in the body's motor response to a sudden stimulus (usually sound): after a kind of fright, a person remains in an excited state for a long time. Experts explain that the longer this period of excitement is, the greater the tendency to depression and stress can be discussed.

This position was proven during the research.

In a normal situation, when people hear a bright loud sound, their heart starts beating faster, their breathing changes, and sweating increases. Then, with the repetition of such loud sounds, the fear manifests itself less and less. Preliminary studies have shown that a longer habituation to such moments indicates a person's weak psychological resilience. Therefore, in such a situation, we can talk about the patient's predisposition to developing a depressive state.

To test this assumption, an additional experiment was conducted, at the initiative of a group of scientists led by Professor Eugene Nalivaiko. At the first stage, three dozen young volunteer participants were interviewed, which allowed them to find out their own opinions about their mental state. The second stage was testing: the volunteers were subjected to sound shock, determining the speed of their adaptation to sharp sounds. In addition, the scientists took a sweat sample.

Depression and stress greatly poison existence, both for the sufferers themselves and for their loved ones. We are talking about quite serious mental failures, which in the minds of many of us are associated with a low mood. However, a real depressive state is a much more serious moment than a usual bad mood. Therefore, it is better to prevent depression than to hire treatment for it later.

The results of the experiment showed that people who assumed they had low stress tolerance actually got used to sound stimulation more slowly than other participants. The scientists expressed hope that this method of determining people's predisposition to psychological disorders could be successfully used, for example, in military and educational institutions. This would allow timely implementation of necessary preventive measures.

The study was reported by New Atlas.