@article{PollatosWernerDuscheketal.2011,
  author    = {Pollatos, Olga and Werner, Natalie S. and Duschek, Stefan and Schandry, Rainer and Matthias, Ellen and Traut-Mattausch, Eva and Herbert, Beate M.},
  title     = {Differential effects of alexithymia subscales on autonomic reactivity and anxiety during social stress},
  series = {Journal of psychosomatic research},
  volume    = {70},
  journal   = {Journal of psychosomatic research},
  number    = {6},
  publisher = {Elsevier},
  address   = {Oxford},
  issn      = {0022-3999},
  doi       = {10.1016/j.jpsychores.2010.12.003},
  pages     = {525 -- 533},
  year      = {2011},
  abstract  = {Objectives: Alexithymia is characterized by a difficulty in identifying and describing one's emotions. Recent research has associated differential effects of the alexithymia facets to hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis markers during stress. This study aimed to analyze how the facets of alexithymia interact with autonomic reactivity as well as self- and observer-rated anxiety during a social stress task. Methods: With the use of a public-speaking paradigm, skin conductance levels (SCLs) and heart rate (HR) during the defined periods of baseline, preparation, stress, and recovery were assessed in 60 volunteers (42 females, mean age 22.8) categorized as having either high (HDA) or low (LDA) degrees of alexithymia. Results: We found smaller SCLs during preparation and speech in the HDA group. Regression analyses indicated that only the alexithymia facet "difficulty in describing feelings" (DDF) was associated with smaller electrodermal responses. In the HDA group, self- and observer-rated anxiety was higher in the HDA than in the LDA group, which was attributable to higher scores in the subscales "difficulty in identifying feelings" (DIF) and "externally oriented thinking" (EOT). Conclusions: Our data support and specify the decoupling hypothesis of alexithymia by showing that the facets of alexithymia are differentially related to autonomic reactivity as well as self- and observer-rated anxiety during social stress.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{PollatosHerbertWankneretal.2011,
  author    = {Pollatos, Olga and Herbert, Beate M. and Wankner, Sarah and Dietel, Anja and Wachsmuth, Cornelia and Henningsen, Peter and Sack, Martin},
  title     = {Autonomic imbalance is associated with reduced facial recognition in somatoform disorders},
  series = {Journal of psychosomatic research},
  volume    = {71},
  journal   = {Journal of psychosomatic research},
  number    = {4},
  publisher = {Elsevier},
  address   = {Oxford},
  issn      = {0022-3999},
  doi       = {10.1016/j.jpsychores.2011.03.012},
  pages     = {232 -- 239},
  year      = {2011},
  abstract  = {Objectives: Somatoform disorders are characterized by the presence of multiple somatic symptoms. While the accuracy of perceiving bodily signal (interoceptive awareness) is only sparely investigated in somatoform disorders, recent research has associated autonomic imbalance with cognitive and emotional difficulties in stress-related diseases. This study aimed to investigate how sympathovagal reactivity interacts with performance in recognizing emotions in faces (facial recognition task). Methods: Using a facial recognition and appraisal task, skin conductance levels (SCLs), heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV) were assessed in 26 somatoform patients and compared to healthy controls. Interoceptive awareness was assessed by a heartbeat detection task. Results: We found evidence for a sympathovagal imbalance in somatoform disorders characterized by low parasympathetic reactivity during emotional tasks and increased sympathetic activation during baseline. Somatoform patients exhibited a reduced recognition performance for neutral and sad emotional expressions only. Possible confounding variables such as alexithymia, anxiety or depression were taken into account. Interoceptive awareness was reduced in somatoform patients. Conclusions: Our data demonstrate an imbalance in sympathovagal activation in somatoform disorders associated with decreased parasympathetic activation. This might account for difficulties in processing of sad and neutral facial expressions in somatoform patients which might be a pathogenic mechanism for increased everyday vulnerability.},
  language  = {en}
}