title: The cortisol response to social stress in social anxiety disorder.
abstract: This study evaluated the cortisol stress response (CSR) following the Trier Social Stress Test in Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) and control participants, to determine whether individual differences in CSR associate more with SAD diagnosis or dimensional characteristics [i.e. childhood trauma (CT)]. Twenty-one participants (11 with SAD) had full data available for both CT-scores and cortisol area-under-the-curve (AUC). Linear regression produced significant results: predicting AUCG with study group, emotional abuse (EA) scores and their interaction (F=3.14, df=5,15; p=.039); of note, the study group by EA interaction was significant at p=.015, driven by a strong positive association between EA and cortisol AUCG in the control group, and a negative association between these variables in the SAD group (standardized-beta=1.56, t=2.75, p=.015). This suggests that EA in SAD patients is associated with altered CSR, highlighting need to measure dimensional characteristics.
authors: Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, 100 Stokes St., Toronto, ON, Canada M6 J 1H4; University of Toronto, Institute of Medical Science, 1 King's College Circle, Room 2374, Toronto, ON, Canada M5S 1A8.
authors: Oriana
authors: O
authors: Vaccarino
authors: Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, 100 Stokes St., Toronto, ON, Canada M6 J 1H4; University of Toronto, Department of Psychiatry, 250 College Street, 8th Floor, Toronto, ON, Canada M5 T 1R8; University of Toronto, Institute of Medical Science, 1 King's College Circle, Room 2374, Toronto, ON, Canada M5S 1A8.
authors: Robert
authors: R
authors: Levitan
authors: Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, 100 Stokes St., Toronto, ON, Canada M6 J 1H4; University of Toronto, Department of Psychiatry, 250 College Street, 8th Floor, Toronto, ON, Canada M5 T 1R8; University of Toronto, Institute of Medical Science, 1 King's College Circle, Room 2374, Toronto, ON, Canada M5S 1A8. Electronic address: arun.ravindran@camh.ca.
authors: Arun
authors: A
authors: Ravindran
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D019540:Area Under Curve; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000523:psychology*; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010698:Phobic Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D012931:Social Environment; D040921:Stress Disorders, Traumatic / Q000150:complications; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D006854:Hydrocortisone
keywords: Childhood trauma; Cortisol; Emotional abuse; Social anxiety disorder; Social stress