Studies on the psychosomatic functioning of ill-health according to eastern and western medicine 6. Psychosomatic characteristics of anxiety and depression

In the accompanying paper "Psychosomatic Characteristics of Anxiety and the Anxiety-Affinitive Constitution (Provisional Term) in Medical Students," w e suggest that an assessment of the relationship between anxiety and the st ate of thoracic-abdominal balance of breathing, and the creation of an anxi ety-affinitive constitution index (AACI) derived from that assessment, will be indispensable for furthering research in the future. Using the tenets o f Oriental psychosomatic medicine, we examined in this research medical stu dents (N=104) from whom we had received fully-informed consent for the rese arch in writing, and patients who met the DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for an xiety disorders (N=18) and major depressive episodes (N=20). We then identi fied their anxiety and depressive psychosomatic traits in accordance with a n assessment of the relationship between anxiety and the state of their tho racic-abdominal balance of breathing, and the AACI derived from that assess ment. We performed a multiple regression analysis with the STAI trait anxie ty as the dependent variable, and the parameters of the somatic tests as th e independent variables. We obtained the formula that AACI = -62.9 + 72.9 x the thoracic/abdominal respiratory movement ratio (the fractal. dimension value for the thoracic respiratory curve/the fractal dimension value for th e abdominal respiratory curve) + 22.5 x the horizontal eye movement (the fr actal dimension value) + 2.4 x the dental indentation of the tongue (existe nce, 1; none 0). We then obtained data regarding a symptomatological, const itutional, and nosological diagnosis of anxiety and depression based on the AACI values of the Student's t test calculated for the medical students an d the anxiety disorder patients and patients with major depressive episodes , and a statistical analysis using ANOVA. We believe the AACI we created in this research will be very important and significant for the preventive tr eatment of lifestyle illnesses and stress-related diseases.