One third of individuals suffering from depression do not achieve remission after multiple treatment attempts. Professor Fiona Conway and colleagues are exploring whether paying attention to certain biological processes can help make depression treatments more effective.
Their study, published in the International Journal of Psychophysiology, examines how individual variations in heart rate were related to depressive symptoms in a sample of 152 young adults. Results show that cardiovascular processes and cardiorespiratory fitness are linked to depression symptomatology. Treatment approaches that aim to enhance cardiovascular functioning may be able to bolster effects of other depression therapies while simultaneously decreasing risk for future cardiovascular problems.