title: Psychophysiological reactivity in female sexual abuse survivors.
abstract: This study examined psychophysiological reactivity in 37 female childhood sexual abuse (CSA) survivors. After assessment of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), psychiatric comorbidity, and trauma history, we conducted a psychophysiological assessment of forehead muscle tension, electrodermal activity, and heart rate during a mental arithmetic task and4 script-driven imagery tasks (neutral, consensual sex, pleasant, and trauma). PTSD symptom severity correlated positively with psychophysiologic changes and negative emotions during the trauma imagery task. During mental arithmetic, PTSD symptom severity correlated negatively with autonomic changes and positively with negative emotions. These results extend earlier PTSD research showing trauma-specific increased psychophysiological reactivity related to CSA in women with PTSD. They further suggest a negative association between PTSD severity and autonomic reactions to mental arithmetic.
authors.affiliation: National Center for PTSD, VA Medical and Regional Office Center, White River Junction, Vermont 05009, USA. mcdonagh_coyle@dartmouth.edu
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: McDonagh-Coyle
authors.forename: G J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: McHugo
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Friedman
authors.forename: P P
authors.initials: PP
authors.lastname: Schnurr
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zayfert
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Descamps
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect; D002648:Child; D002650:Child Abuse, Sexual / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005712:Galvanic Skin Response / Q000502:physiology*; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D017741:Survivors / Q000523:psychology*