Exploring the Association of Hypertension with Risk for Depression: Evidence for Tamed Neurobehavioral Arousal Versus Central Emotional Dysregulation

Christoph Herrmann-Lingen, Mustafa Al'absi

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

11 Scopus citations

Abstract

Depression is an established predictor of adverse cardiovascular disease outcomes. Less is known about cardiovascular risk factors as predictors of depression. In this issue of Psychosomatic Medicine (2018;80:508-514), Patel et al. report data indicating that pre-existing hypertension may be inversely associated with the atypical but not typical form of depression. We highlight here the strengths and limitations of the article and discuss the findings in light of research linking blood pressure and emotion regulation. In general, evidence suggests that higher blood pressure is associated with reduced expression of negative emotions and pain. Two prominent models of interaction have been proposed and supported by epidemiological and experimental research: one assumes that elevations in blood pressure lead to reduced arousal and pain sensitivity through baroreceptor activation and possibly additional afferent mechanisms. Operant conditioning may then result in (chronic) hypertension. The other one posits that impaired emotion processing as indicated by dampened emotion recognition may lead to disinhibition of hypothalamic centers and thereby result in sustained increases in blood pressure. These models are described in context of the current literature and open research questions are formulated.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)504-507
Number of pages4
JournalPsychosomatic medicine
Volume80
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 1 2018

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Source of Funding and Conflicts of Interest: M.A. work was supported in part by a grant from the National Institutes of Health (R01DA027232). The authors report no conflicts of interest.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

Keywords

  • baroreflex
  • depression
  • emotional dampening
  • hypertension

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