Attention, heart rate, and startle response during exposure to trauma-relevant pictures: a comparison of recent trauma victims and patients with posttraumatic stress disorder.
Victims of a recent trauma were compared with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) patients and healthy controls to assess whether a specific anxiety response and an attentional bias were evident initially or only in chronic PTSD. Heart rate (HR) and startle response were measured, and a dot-probe task was carried out using trauma-relevant pictures. Severely affected recent trauma victims and chronic PTSD patients showed HR acceleration to trauma-related material, which was the only significant group difference. A bias away from trauma-related material was related to severity of intrusions in recent trauma victims, and the bias toward trauma-related material increased with amplitude of the HR response in PTSD patients. A specific anxiety reaction is present initially in severely affected trauma victims.
Elsesser
Karin
K
Department of Psychology, University of Wuppertal, Germany.
Sartory
Gudrun
G
Tackenberg
Axel
A
D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000175:diagnosis*; D001288:Attention; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013216:Reflex, Startle / Q000502:physiology*; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires