Social Support and Social Rhythm Regularity in Elderly Patients with Major Depressive Disorder

Patients with MDD showed lower social rhythm regularity as well as lower measures of SS than HCs. In HCs, high SS was correlated with low social rhythm regularity, suggesting that increases in SS in combination with a healthy organization of circadian rhythms allow the social rhythms to become less rigid. Interestingly, in MDD, no correlation was found, suggesting that patients have a blunted response to social stimuli and may, therefore, benefit from treatment that increases the susceptibility to SS.