Psychophysiologic responses to combat imagery of Vietnam veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder versus other anxiety disorders.

Abstract

We used psychophysiologic techniques to assess responses to imagery of psychologically stressful past experiences in medication-free Vietnam combat veterans classified, on the basis of DSM-III-R criteria into posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD; n = 7) or non-PTSD anxiety disorder (anxious; n = 7) groups. Scripts describing each individual's combat experiences were recorded and played back in the laboratory. Ss were instructed to imagine the events the scripts portrayed while heart rate, skin conductance, and frontalis electromyogram were recorded. PTSD Ss' physiologic responses were higher than those of anxious Ss. A discriminant function derived from a previous study of PTSD and mentally healthy combat veterans identified 5 of the 7 current PTSD Ss as physiologic responders and all 7 of the anxious Ss as nonresponders. Results of this study replicate and extend results of the previous study and support the validity of PTSD as a separate diagnostic entity.

Objective assessment of peritraumatic dissociation: psychophysiological indicators

“…Lower physiological reactivity in the high dissociation group is surprising in light of the fact that most of the members of this group had PTSD symptoms. This finding contrasts with previous findings of generally higher physiological reactivity in subjects with PTSD (23)(24)(25)(26). The response of subjects in the high dissociation group may provide evidence of a specific PTSD subtype of highly dissociative individuals who may respond with a general physiological numbness.…”

Psychophysiological reactivity to traumatic and abandonment scripts in borderline personality and posttraumatic stress disorders: a preliminary report

“…A number of studies (Pitman et al, 1987(Pitman et al, , 1990Blanchard et al, 1982;McFall et al, 1990;Orr et al, 1993;Shin et al, 1999) have investigated psychophysiological reactivity to trauma-related scripts in patients with PTSD. In contrast to the present study, most former studies found more pronounced heart rate responses in PTSD.…”

“…We were not able to replicate the findings of larger heart rate responses to traumatic reminders in patients with PTSD. Heart rate differences in response to trauma-related imagery were found in combat-related PTSD in male veterans (Pitman et al, 1987(Pitman et al, , 1990Blanchard et al, 1982;McFall et al, 1990;Orr et al, 1993) and abuse-related PTSD in female patients (Shin et al, 1999;Carson et al, 2000;Orr et al, 1998).…”

“…Challenge studies of this sort that have examined PTSD subjects have yielded relatively consistent results. In studies that have compared Vietnam combat veterans with and without PTSD, subjects that heard 'personalized' scripts of their traumatic experiences have demonstrated an increase in heart rate (Pitman et al, 1987(Pitman et al, , 1990for review: Prins et al, 1995). Shin et al (1999) found higher heart rate and blood pressure responses for subjects with childhood sexual abuse-related PTSD as compared with controls when subjects were exposed to traumatic scripts.…”

Cardiovascular and psychological responses to voluntary recall of trauma in posttraumatic stress disorder

“…When individuals with PTSD underwent cued recall of trauma, or were exposed to reminders that triggered involuntary traumatic memories, increased heart rate (HR), a sign of emotional arousal (Blechert, Michael, Grossman, Lajtman, & Wilhelm, 2007), has consistently been found (e.g. Arditi-Babchuk, Feldman, & Gilboa-Schechtman, 2009; O’Kearney & Parry, 2014; Pitman et al, 1990). …”