title: Impact of Comorbid Depressive Disorders on Subjective and Physiological Responses to Emotion in Generalized Anxiety Disorder.
abstract: Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and unipolar depressive disorders (UDD) have been shown to differ from each other in dimensions of affective functioning despite their high rates of comorbidity. We showed emotional film clips to a community sample (n= 170) with GAD, GAD with secondary UDD, or no diagnosis. Groups had comparable subjective responses to the clips, but the GAD group had significantly lower heart rate variability (HRV) during fear and after sadness, compared to controls. While HRV in the GAD and control groups rose in response to the sadness and happiness clips, it returned to baseline levels afterwards in the GAD group, potentially indicating lesser ability to sustain attention on emotional stimuli. HRV in the GAD + UDD group changed only in response to sadness, but was otherwise unvarying between timepoints. Though preliminary, these findings suggest comorbid UDD as a potential moderator of emotional responding in GAD.
authors.affiliation: The University of Arizona, 1503 East University Boulevard, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA.
authors.forename: Saren H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Seeley
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Hunter College, City University of New York, 695 Park Avenue, HN742, New York, NY 10065, USA; The Graduate Center, City University of New York, 365 5th Avenue, New York, NY 10016, USA.
authors.forename: Douglas S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Mennin
authors.affiliation: Ohio State University, 1835 Neil Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210, USA.
authors.forename: Amelia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Aldao
authors.affiliation: University of Washington, 3939 University Way NE, Seattle, WA 98105, USA.
authors.forename: Katie A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: McLaughlin
authors.affiliation: University of South Florida, 4202 East Fowler Avenue, Tampa, FL 33620, USA.
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rottenberg
authors.affiliation: Kent State University, 226 Kent Hall Annex, Kent, OH 44242, USA.
authors.forename: David M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Fresco
keywords: Comorbidity; Emotion; Generalized anxiety disorder; Heart rate variability