title: Psychophysiological assessment of posttraumatic stress disorder imagery in World War II and Korean combat veterans.
abstract: We assessed the heart rate, skin conductance, and left lateral frontalis electromyographic responses of World War II (WWII) and Korean War male veterans to recollection of their combat experiences by using a script-driven imagery technique previously validated in Vietnam veterans (Pitman et al., 1990; Pitman, Orr, Forgue, de Jong, & Claiborn, 1987). Medication-free subjects were classified on the basis of criteria from the revised third edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders into posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD; n = 8) and non-PTSD (n = 12) groups, which did not differ in overall combat exposure or severity of personal combat events. PTSD subjects' physiological responses during personal combat imagery were markedly larger than those of non-PTSD subjects', even though the self-reported emotional responses of the two groups were comparable. A physiological discriminant function derived from Vietnam veterans (Orr et al., 1990) correctly classified 7 of the 8 PTSD subjects (sensitivity was 88%) and 12 of the 12 non-PTSD subjects (specificity was 100%; p < .001).
authors.affiliation: Veterans Affairs Research Service, Manchester, New Hampshire 03103.
authors.forename: S P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Orr
authors.forename: R K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Pitman
authors.forename: N B
authors.initials: NB
authors.lastname: Lasko
authors.forename: L R
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Herz
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001143:Arousal; D003130:Combat Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D004576:Electromyography; D005712:Galvanic Skin Response; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D007092:Imagination; D008950:MMPI; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013067:Speech Perception; D014728:Veterans / Q000523:psychology*; D014857:Warfare