Video-analytic study of manual kinesics and its lateralization in the course of treatment of depressive syndromes

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Abstract
Video-taped interviews of 47, predominantly endogenous depressive in-patients, recorded on days 0 and 21 of pharmacotherapy were analyzed regarding frequency, duration and side-preference of defined hand movements. Data were related to clinical improvement or deterioration as assessed by judgement of the syndromal aspects: retardation and agitation. Improvement is marked by a decrease of continuous body-focused movements (C) and an increase of object-focused movements (O) of the speech primacy type (OS), deterioration by an increase of C and decrease of OS. The degree of retardation corresponds to O, the degree of agitation, to C. O show no side-preference with a higher degree of retardation or agitation, respectively, but a marked right preference with a lower degree of retardation or agitation. Discrete body touching (D) shows a left preference only, with a higher degree of retardation. A comparison of sidedness of O between interviews 1 and 2 shows no lateralization trend, either in the improvement or the deterioration group. D changes from left weightiness to symmetry, coinciding with improvement but not with deterioration. The possibility of a particular mode of cerebral lateralization predisposing to endogenous depression was discussed.