title: Anger and aggression problems in veterans are associated with an increased acoustic startle reflex.
abstract: Anger and aggression are frequent problems in deployed military personnel. A lowered threshold of perceiving and responding to threat can trigger impulsive aggression. This can be indicated by an exaggerated startle response. Fifty-two veterans with anger and aggression problems (Anger group) and 50 control veterans were tested using a startle experiment with 10 startle probes and 10 prepulse trials, presented in a random order and with a random interval between the trials. Predictors (demographics, Trait Anger, State Anger, Harm Avoidance and Anxious Arousal) for the startle response within the Anger group were tested. Increased EMG responses were found to the startle probes in the Anger Group compared to the Control group, but not to the prepulse trials. Furthermore, Harm Avoidance and State Anger predicted the increased startle reflex within the Anger group, whereas Trait Anger was negatively related to the startle reflex. These findings indicate that threat reactivity is increased in anger and aggression problems. These problems are not only caused by an anxious predisposition, the degree of anger also predicts the startle reflex.
authors.affiliation: Research Centre Military Mental Health Care, Ministry of Defense, Utrecht, The Netherlands; University Medical Center Utrecht, Department of Psychiatry, Utrecht, The Netherlands; Utrecht University, Department of Clinical Psychology, Utrecht, The Netherlands. Electronic address: liekeheesink@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Lieke
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Heesink
authors.affiliation: Utrecht University, Department of Clinical Psychology, Utrecht, The Netherlands; Foundation Arq, Diemen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Rolf
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kleber
authors.affiliation: Berlin University of the Arts, Department of Theory and Practice of Communication, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Häfner
authors.affiliation: Research Centre Military Mental Health Care, Ministry of Defense, Utrecht, The Netherlands; University Medical Center Utrecht, Department of Psychiatry, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Laury
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: van Bedaf
authors.affiliation: Research Centre Military Mental Health Care, Ministry of Defense, Utrecht, The Netherlands; University Medical Center Utrecht, Department of Psychiatry, Utrecht, The Netherlands; Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO), Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Iris
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Eekhout
authors.affiliation: Research Centre Military Mental Health Care, Ministry of Defense, Utrecht, The Netherlands; University Medical Center Utrecht, Department of Psychiatry, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Elbert
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Geuze
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000328:Adult; D000374:Aggression / Q000502:physiology*; D000786:Anger / Q000502:physiology*; D001007:Anxiety / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013216:Reflex, Startle / Q000502:physiology*; D014728:Veterans
keywords: Aggression; Anger; Anxiety; Military; Startle; Veterans