Decision strategies in neuropsychology III: the relationship among lateralized dysfunction, etiology and depression

The present study examines depression as a function of lateralized dysfunction and etiology. The proposed hypothesis is: patients with left hemisphere lesions would be depressed, whereas patients with right hemisphere lesions would not. A total of 61 patients (26 right hemisphere, 35 left hemisphere) having either a stroke, tumor, or penetrating head wound, completed the MMPI and were given a neuropsychological evaluation. Lesion localization was based on electroencephalography and neuroradiological procedures. A regression formula derived from the MMPI assessed depression. Two analyses were performed between: (i) right and left lesioned groups of mixed etiology and a control group, and (ii) right and left cerebrovascular lesioned groups and a control group. Potentially confounding factors, such as, diagnosis, demographic factors, degree of neuropsychological impairment, presence or absence of aphasia, and lesion localization were examined. Regardless of etiology, left and right lesioned patients did not significantly differ in their depression score, nor was either group considered depressed based on the criteria used in this study to measure depression.