[How hypervigilance and hyperreactivity clinically described in anxiety expressed physiologically?].
Anxious people often show a particular attentional focus towards potentially threatening stimuli. Like any other emotion, anxiety goes along with physiological reactions, which may be more or less noticeable, and may impair behavior and physical wellness. In view of the psychophysiological reactions related with anxiety and anxiety disorders, it seems important to examine potential correlations between psychophysiological activity and the phenomena of hypervigilance. In fact, selective psychophysiological activation has repeatedly been found as a reaction to pathology-specific threatening stimuli in patients with anxiety disorders, whereas their psychophysiological responses appeared often to be blunted when they were submitted to neutral stimuli.
Unité de recherche clinique, Département universitaire de psychiatrie adulte, Hôpital de Cery, Lausanne.
Daniele
D
Zullino
Yasser
Y
Khazaal
Joseph
J
Hättenschwiler
François
F
Borgeat
D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology*; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D005239:Fear / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D011603:Psychophysiology