title: Psychophysiological decoupling in alexithymic pain disorder patients.
abstract: Considering that impaired coping with stress is closely linked with emergence of stress-sensitive disorders most notably in alexithymic individuals, we conducted the first study examining stress-related autonomic reactivity in alexithymic pain disorder patients. Twenty-one pain disorder patients with high and an equivalent patient group with low alexithymia scores were exposed to three types of affect-inductive stimuli with variable affective involvement: arithmetic task, watching arousing video material and giving an oral presentation. Subjective appraisal of the induced emotional experience and physiological reactivity (heart rate, muscle tension and skin conductance) was documented. During oral presentation high alexithymia patients showed significantly lower skin conductance in combination with increased subjective negative affect compared to low alexithymia patients. Our results thus demonstrate a decoupling between physiological and affect processing in pain disorder patients with high alexithymia during a stressful situation that was subjectively associated with negative affect.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University of Bonn, Germany.
authors.forename: Alexandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kleiman
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University of Bonn, Germany.
authors.forename: Karen Anne
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Kramer
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University of Bonn, Germany.
authors.forename: Ingo
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Wegener
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University of Bonn, Germany.
authors.forename: Anne Sarah
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Koch
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University of Bonn, Germany.
authors.forename: Franziska
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Geiser
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University of Bonn, Germany.
authors.forename: Katrin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Imbierowicz
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Chemistry and Clinical Pharmacology, University of Bonn, Germany.
authors.forename: Berndt
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zur
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University of Bonn, Germany. Electronic address: Rupert.Conrad@ukb.uni-bonn.de.
authors.forename: Rupert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Conrad
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000342:Affective Symptoms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001342:Autonomic Nervous System Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D015897:Comorbidity; D004576:Electromyography; D005712:Galvanic Skin Response / Q000502:physiology*; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013001:Somatoform Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000503:physiopathology*
keywords: Affect; Alexithymia; Decoupling; Electromyography; Galvanic Skin Response; Heart rate; Somatoform Disorders