Journal of Mental Science (1944) 90: 595-602. doi: 10.1192/bjp.90.379.595
© 1944 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
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Parotid Gland Secretion in Affective Mental Disorders

H. J. Eysenck, Ph.D.* and P.-M. Yap, B.A.

Psychological Laboratory, Mill Hill Emergency Hospital

* With the support of the Rockefeller Foundation.

ABSTRACT

Summary and Conclusions: The salivary secretion of altogether 100 neurotic and psychotic patients was measured in c.c. by means of the Lashley disc, under a variety of different conditions, such as olfactory stimulation, rest, reading, mental work, etc. Under these experimental conditions the following results were found:

  1. Salivary secretion in neurotic patients suffering from affective disorders (anxiety, depression) is significantly less than secretion in neurotic patients suffering from hysterical and other non-affective disorders. The control neurotic group secreted 1.41 times as much saliva as the affective group.
  2. Salivary secretion in psychotic patients suffering from affective disorders (melancholia, manic-depressive psychosis) is significantly less than secretion in psychotics suffering from schizophrenia and other non-affective disorders. The control psychotic group secreted 1.36 times as much saliva as the affective group.
  3. Men serected 1.2 times as much saliva as women, a proportion similar to that which the body-size of one sex bears to that of the other.
  4. Salivary secretion is decreased during concentrated mental work. There is about ten times as much secretion during silent reading as there is during the most concentrated mental work.
  5. Food imagery and olfactory stimulation produce a reduction rather than an increase in the amount of salivary flow when the measurements are taken over a long enough period to allow "unconditioning" to take place.
  6. The curve of distribution of the "scores" (i.e. of the total amount of saliva secreted by each patient during the period of the experiment) is not normal, but resembles a J-curve.
  7. The reliability of the test, as measured by retesting a sample of patients after three weeks, is not very high, the correlations between test and re-test being .54 ± .15 S.E.