TY  - JOUR
A1  - Pollatos, Olga
A1  - Werner, Natalie S.
A1  - Duschek, Stefan
A1  - Schandry, Rainer
A1  - Matthias, Ellen
A1  - Traut-Mattausch, Eva
A1  - Herbert, Beate M.
T1  - Differential effects of alexithymia subscales on autonomic reactivity and anxiety during social stress
JF  - Journal of psychosomatic research
N2  - 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.
KW  - Alexithymia
KW  - Autonomic response
KW  - Social stress
KW  - Skin conductance
KW  - Anxiety
KW  - Social performance
KW  - Decoupling hypothesis
Y1  - 2011
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychores.2010.12.003
SN  - 0022-3999
VL  - 70
IS  - 6
SP  - 525
EP  - 533
PB  - Elsevier
CY  - Oxford
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Pollatos, Olga
A1  - Herbert, Beate M.
A1  - Wankner, Sarah
A1  - Dietel, Anja
A1  - Wachsmuth, Cornelia
A1  - Henningsen, Peter
A1  - Sack, Martin
T1  - Autonomic imbalance is associated with reduced facial recognition in somatoform disorders
JF  - Journal of psychosomatic research
N2  - 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.
KW  - Somatoform disorder
KW  - Interoceptive awareness
KW  - Facial recognition
KW  - Autonomic response
KW  - Heart rate variability
Y1  - 2011
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychores.2011.03.012
SN  - 0022-3999
VL  - 71
IS  - 4
SP  - 232
EP  - 239
PB  - Elsevier
CY  - Oxford
ER  -