Concordance between physiological arousal and subjective distress among vietnam combat veterans undergoing challenge testing for PTSD
Open accessAbstract
This study examined concordance between physiological arousal and subjective distress during a laboratory challenge task. Data were collected during the multisite VA Cooperative Study 334 in the early 1990s examining psychophysiological arousal among combat‐exposed Vietnam veterans with (n = 775) and without (n = 369) posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Study participants were presented with 6 standardized neutral scenes and 6 standardized combat scenes. Participants provided a subjective rating of distress after each slide. During the presentation, levels of heart rate (HR) and skin conductance (SC) were recorded. Using linear mixed effects modeling, both HR level and SC level exhibited significant positive associations with subjective distress ratings (pr = .33, p < .001 and pr = .19, p < .001, respectively). Individuals with PTSD demonstrated greater concordance between their distress ratings and SC level during exposure to combat slides than participants without PTSD (pr = .28, p < .001 vs. pr = .18, p < .001). Although a significant association was found between subjective distress and HR reactivity and SC reactivity, these findings were not moderated by PTSD status. The results of these analyses suggest that patients' reports of distress during exposure‐based treatments might serve as approximate measures of actual physiological arousal.
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Concordance between emotional reactivity and physiological reactivity has been identified as a potential transdiagnostic marker of psychopathology.
“Concordance between emotional reactivity and physiological reactivity has been identified as a potential transdiagnostic marker of psychopathology (Calvo & Miguel-Tobal, 1999; Coifman, Bonanno, Ray, & Gross, 2007; Marx et al., 2012; Sallis, Lichstein & McGlynn, 1980; Zahn, Nurnberger, Berrettini, & Robinson, 1991)”
From Dispositional Mindfulness Uncouples Physiological and Emotional Reactivity to a Laboratory Stressor and Emotional Reactivity to Executive Functioning Lapses in Daily Life (2016) · cites this paper as Marx et al., 2012
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- Authors
- Marx, B. P., Bovin, M. J., Suvak, M. K., Monson, C. M., Sloan, D. M., Fredman, S. J., Humphreys, K. L., Kaloupek, D. G., & Keane, T. M.
- Affiliations
- Boston University (US)
- VA Boston Healthcare System (US)
- Suffolk University (US)
- University of California, Los Angeles (US)
- Corresponding author
- Marx, Brian P.
- ORCID
- Venue
- Journal of Traumatic Stress
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2012-07-27
- Volume
- 25
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 416-425
- ISSN
- 0894-9867 (ISSN-L)
- 1573-6598
- PMC
- PMC11719168
- OpenAlex
- W2049506199
- Cited by
- 17
- References
- 47
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2024: 3 · 2021: 2 · 2019: 1 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 7
- FWCI
- 2.55
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Journal of Traumatic Stress (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of Mental Health (T32MH019836)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Research
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Sleep and related disorders
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Keywords
- post-traumatic stress disorder, physiological arousal, subjective distress, heart rate, skin conductance, combat veterans, Vietnam War veterans, provocation tests, combat exposure, psychophysiological reactivity, exposure therapy
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Analysis of Variance, Antisocial Personality Disorder, Arousal, Depressive Disorder, Major, Major Depressive Disorder, Galvanic Skin Response, Heart Rate, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Psychiatric Status Rating Scales, Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic, Stress, Psychological, Veterans, Warfare, Linear Models, Substance-Related Disorders, Vietnam Conflict, Self Report
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