Cited by 444Posttraumatic Stress Disorder ResearchAnxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive ProcessesMemory and Neural Mechanisms

Impaired fear inhibition is a biomarker of PTSD but not depression

Open access
Jovanovic, Tanja, Norrholm, Seth D., Blanding, Nineequa Q., Davis, Michael, Duncan, Erica, Bradley, Bekh, Ressler, Kerry J.·2010·Depression and Anxiety

Abstract

BACKGROUND: A central problem in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a reduced capacity to suppress fear under safe conditions. Previously, we have shown that combat-related PTSD patients have impaired inhibition of fear-potentiated startle (FPS). Given the high comorbidity between PTSD and depression, our goal was to see whether this impairment is specific to PTSD, or a non-specific symptom associated with both disorders. METHODS: Fear-potentiated startle was assessed in 106 trauma-exposed individuals divided into four groups: (a) No diagnosis control, (b) PTSD only, (c) major depression (MDD) only, and (d) comorbid PTSD and MDD. We used a novel conditional discrimination procedure, in which one set of shapes (the danger signal) was paired with aversive airblasts to the throat, and different shapes (the safety signal) were presented without airblasts. The paradigm also included fear inhibition transfer test. RESULTS: Subjects with comorbid MDD and PTSD had higher FPS to the safety signal and to the transfer test compared to controls and MDD only subjects. In contrast to the control and MDD groups, the PTSD and comorbid PTSD and MDD groups did not show fear inhibition to safety cues. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that impaired fear inhibition may be a specific biomarker of PTSD symptoms.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1002/da.20663

Cites

42 of 42 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • PTSD has often been described as a disorder of impaired fear extinction.

    “As PTSD has often been described as a disorder of impaired fear extinction (73, 185–187)”

    From Psychedelics and Other Psychoplastogens for Treating Mental Illness. (2021) · cites this paper as [185]

    The Introduction describes reduced fear suppression under safe conditions as a core problem in PTSD. The Discussion also cites studies suggesting impaired fear suppression during extinction may be a risk factor. But this paper frames its own findings chiefly as impaired fear inhibition and safety-signal processing, rather than describing PTSD specifically as a disorder of impaired fear extinction. (LLM, conf=0.78)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • Fear-potentiated startle can be dysregulated in PTSD.

    “Studies in PTSD have shown that fear-potentiated startle can be dysregulated in PTSD (Jovanovic et al., 2010;Pole et al., 2003)”

    From Physiological feelings (2019) · cites this paper as Jovanovic et al., 2010

  • Subjects with high hyperarousal symptoms show the greatest difficulty inhibiting a fear response to safety cues.

    “For example, previous work has shown that subjects with high hyperarousal symptoms show the greatest difficulty inhibiting a fear response to safety cues (45).”

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 2

  1. [16]Falls WA Davis M Friedman MJ Charney DS Deutch AY Behavioral and physiological analysis of fear inhibition Neurobiological and clinical consequences of stress: From normal adaptation to PTSD Philadelphia Lippincott-Raven Publishers 1995 177 202
  2. [28]First MB Spitzer RL Williams JBW Gibbon M Structured Clinical Interview for DSMIV-Patient Edition (SCID-P) Washington, D.C American Psychiatric Press 1995

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Jovanovic, T., Norrholm, S. D., Blanding, N. Q., Davis, M., Duncan, E., Bradley, B., & Ressler, K. J.
Affiliations
  • Emory University (US)
  • Howard Hughes Medical Institute (US)
Venue
Depression and Anxiety
Published
2010-03
Volume
27
Issue
3
Pages
244-251
ISSN
  • 1091-4269 (ISSN-L)
  • 1520-6394
OpenAlex
W2036863219
Cited by
444
References
42
Citations by year
2026: 6 · 2025: 13 · 2024: 16 · 2023: 23 · 2022: 30 · 2021: 37 · 2020: 32 · 2019: 32 · 2018: 32 · 2017: 25 · 2016: 45 · 2015: 33 · 2014: 39 · 2013: 33 · 2012: 25
FWCI
28.18
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Depression and Anxiety (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
  • Emory University
  • National Institutes of Health (UL1TR000454)
  • National Institute of Mental Health (MH 071537, R01MH071537, R56MH071537)
  • National Center for Research Resources (M01-RR00039, M01RR000039)
  • National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Research
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
Keywords
post-traumatic stress disorder, major depressive disorder, fear inhibition, fear-potentiated startle, conditional discrimination, safety signals, damage-associated molecular patterns, PTSD-depression comorbidity, war injuries, biomarkers
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Arousal, Depressive Disorder, Electromyography, Fear, Female, Humans, Inhibition, Psychological, Male, Middle Aged, Surveys and Questionnaires, Reflex, Startle, Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic, Biomarkers, Comorbidity, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Young Adult

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review