Tania M Lincoln1, Ulf Köther2, Maike Hartmann3, Jürgen Kempkensteffen3, Steffen Moritz2. 1. Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Department of Psychology, University of Hamburg, Germany. Electronic address: tania.lincoln@uni-hamburg.de. 2. University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Germany. 3. Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Department of Psychology, University of Hamburg, Germany.
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: An experimental design was used to test whether self-reported, psychophysiological and symptomatic stress-responses increase as a function of the underlying vulnerability to psychosis as proposed by vulnerability-stress-models. METHODS: Stress-responses of participants with psychotic disorders (PSY, n = 35) were compared to those of participants with attenuated positive symptoms (AS, n = 29), first-degree relatives of persons with psychotic disorders (REL, n = 26), healthy controls (HC, n = 28) and controls with depression (DEP, n = 30). Using a repeated measures design, participants were assigned to a noise stressor, a social stressor and a no stress condition in random order. Stress-responses were assessed via self-report, salivary cortisol levels, heart rate and skin conductance levels. State-paranoia and depression were assessed with clinical scales. RESULTS: PSY reported to be significantly more stressed than HC, AS and REL across all conditions which went along with increased heart rate and decreased overall cortisol release. In contrast, AS showed elevated levels of cortisol. PSY showed a stronger response of self-reported stress to the noise condition compared to the no stress condition than HC, but no stronger response than the other samples. Furthermore, the stressors did not trigger stronger psychophysiological responses or symptom-increases in PSY. LIMITATIONS: The social stressor was brief and not individualized and did not have an effect on cortisol. CONCLUSIONS: The findings support the notion that subjective stress-responsiveness increases with vulnerability, but not the assumption that symptoms arise directly as a function of stress and vulnerability. Also, the generally high levels of arousal seem to be more relevant to psychosis than the responsiveness to specific stressors.
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: An experimental design was used to test whether self-reported, psychophysiological and symptomatic stress-responses increase as a function of the underlying vulnerability to psychosis as proposed by vulnerability-stress-models. METHODS: Stress-responses of participants with psychotic disorders (PSY, n = 35) were compared to those of participants with attenuated positive symptoms (AS, n = 29), first-degree relatives of persons with psychotic disorders (REL, n = 26), healthy controls (HC, n = 28) and controls with depression (DEP, n = 30). Using a repeated measures design, participants were assigned to a noise stressor, a social stressor and a no stress condition in random order. Stress-responses were assessed via self-report, salivary cortisol levels, heart rate and skin conductance levels. State-paranoia and depression were assessed with clinical scales. RESULTS: PSY reported to be significantly more stressed than HC, AS and REL across all conditions which went along with increased heart rate and decreased overall cortisol release. In contrast, AS showed elevated levels of cortisol. PSY showed a stronger response of self-reported stress to the noise condition compared to the no stress condition than HC, but no stronger response than the other samples. Furthermore, the stressors did not trigger stronger psychophysiological responses or symptom-increases in PSY. LIMITATIONS: The social stressor was brief and not individualized and did not have an effect on cortisol. CONCLUSIONS: The findings support the notion that subjective stress-responsiveness increases with vulnerability, but not the assumption that symptoms arise directly as a function of stress and vulnerability. Also, the generally high levels of arousal seem to be more relevant to psychosis than the responsiveness to specific stressors.
Authors: Benjamin Buck; Kevin A Hallgren; Emily Scherer; Rachel Brian; Rui Wang; Weichen Wang; Andrew Campbell; Tanzeem Choudhury; Marta Hauser; John M Kane; Dror Ben-Zeev Journal: J Psychiatr Res Date: 2019-06-10 Impact factor: 4.791
Authors: Anita D Barber; Juan A Gallego; Pamela DeRosse; Michael L Birnbaum; Todd Lencz; Sana A Ali; Ashley Moyett; Anil K Malhotra Journal: Biol Psychiatry Cogn Neurosci Neuroimaging Date: 2021-10-30