A Y Shalev1, S P Orr, R K Pitman. 1. Department of Psychiatry, Hadassah University Hospital, Jerusalem, Israel.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: A psychophysiologic method previously validated in Vietnam veterans was used to evaluate the responses of medication-free Israeli posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) patients to script-driven imagery, before and after treatment with systematic desensitization. METHOD: Skin conductance, heart rate, and frontalis EMG responses during imagery of traumatic events were assessed in three unmedicated Israeli PTSD patients. The t test of significance was used to compare the magnitude of the response to traumatic imagery with that of responses to imagery of nine other events. RESULTS: The elevated physiologic responses to traumatic imagery, observed before treatment, normalized after systematic desensitization. Imagery of traumata that were not treated by desensitization continued to produce elevated responses. CONCLUSION: Physiologic response during traumatic imagery may be useful in the evaluation of differential treatment outcome in PTSD.
BACKGROUND: A psychophysiologic method previously validated in Vietnam veterans was used to evaluate the responses of medication-free Israeli posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) patients to script-driven imagery, before and after treatment with systematic desensitization. METHOD: Skin conductance, heart rate, and frontalis EMG responses during imagery of traumatic events were assessed in three unmedicated Israeli PTSDpatients. The t test of significance was used to compare the magnitude of the response to traumatic imagery with that of responses to imagery of nine other events. RESULTS: The elevated physiologic responses to traumatic imagery, observed before treatment, normalized after systematic desensitization. Imagery of traumata that were not treated by desensitization continued to produce elevated responses. CONCLUSION: Physiologic response during traumatic imagery may be useful in the evaluation of differential treatment outcome in PTSD.
Authors: M K Dahlgren; L M Laifer; M B VanElzakker; R Offringa; K C Hughes; L K Staples-Bradley; S J Dubois; N B Lasko; C A Hinojosa; S P Orr; R K Pitman; L M Shin Journal: Psychol Med Date: 2017-09-12 Impact factor: 7.723
Authors: Josh M Cisler; J Scott Steele; Jennifer K Lenow; Sonet Smitherman; Betty Everett; Erick Messias; Clinton D Kilts Journal: J Psychiatr Res Date: 2013-10-02 Impact factor: 4.791