The Relationship between Type D Personality and Heart Rate Variability in Community Mental Health Center Users

Internet gaming addiction (IGA) has been associated with many negative health outcomes, especially for youth; however, few studies have examined the physiological parameters and personality features related to this addiction. This study aimed to identify differences in autonomic functions and distressed (type D) personality traits among Korean adolescent males with and without IGA. In a cross-sectional study, 68 adolescent males were recruited in a Korean city using convenience and snowball sampling methods. For each subject, heart rate variability (HRV) parameters were measured as autonomic functions and questionnaires were used to identify IGA and type D personality traits. Data were analyzed using descriptive analyses, t tests, χ tests, and Pearson's correlation. Most HRV parameters significantly differed between the IGA and non-IGA groups (all p < 0.05). Type D personality total and subscale scores, including those for negative affectivity (NA) and social inhibition, were significantly higher in the IGA group (all p < 0.001). Of the 68 subjects, 46 were classified as having type D personality, with nearly twice as many in the IGA group as in the non-IGA group (p = 0.002). Type D personality total scores negatively correlated with the logarithmic value of total power and low frequency among the HRV parameters (both p < 0.05). Results showed that excessive Internet gaming was related to alterations in autonomic functions and distressed personality traits in male adolescents. These findings provide further understanding of the IGA phenomenon and highlight the need for interventions that address male adolescents with IGA.

Mental illness such as depression and anxiety as well as cerebrovascular disease are linked to impairment of neurocardiac function mediated by changes to the autonomic nervous system with increased sympathetic and decreased parasympathetic activity. Autonomic neurocardiac function can be evaluated by computing heart rate variability (HRV). Over the past decades, research has demonstrated the diagnostic value of HRV as independent predictor of cardiovascular mortality and as disease marker in progressive autonomic nervous system disorders such as Parkinson’s disease. Here we summarize our studies on HRV and its therapeutic modulation in the context of psychopharmacology as well as psychiatric and neurological disorders to honor the life of Professor Evgeny Vaschillo, the true pioneer of HRV research who sadly passed away on November 21st, 2020.

Pathophysiological mechanisms leading to higher rates of adverse outcomes in CAD in individuals with Type D personalities may involve cardiac autonomic imbalance and lipid dysregulation.