Abstract
Visual emotional stimulation is supposed to elicit psycho-vegetative reactions, which are similar to as the ones elicited by exposure to actual experience. Visual stimulation paradigms have been widely used in studies on agoraphobia with and without panic disorder. However, the applied imagery has hardly ever been disorder- and subject- specific.
have been examined. Subjects were confronted with 146 picture showing characteristic agoraphobic situations (high places, narrow places, crowds, public transport facilities, or wide places) or pictures associated with acute physical emergency (panic) situations, which had been pre-selected by anxiety experts. Participants were asked to rate emotional arousal induced by the respective images on the Self- Assessment Manikin scale (SAM). Data on PDA severity (PAS) depressive symptoms (MADRS) and sociodemographic data were recorded. Saliva cortisol levels were measured before and after exposure in a second test applying the individually mostly feared stimuli combined with emotionally neutral pictures for every single patient. 117 of the PDA-specific images were rated significantly more fear-eliciting by patients than by healthy individuals. Sub-categorization into agoraphobia clusters showed differential effects of clusters with regard to gender distribution, severity of PDA and cortisol secretion during exposure. In this study disorder specific and individual characteristics of agoraphobia were assessed for use in future trials applying emotional imagery. It could be used for the differential assessment of PDA and associated neurobiological and psychological phenomena and in neuroimaging paradigms.Keywords: Panic disorder and agoraphobia, phobic exposure, symptom clusters, cortisol
Current Pharmaceutical Design
Title:Disorder-Specific Emotional Imagery for Differential and Quantitative Assessment of Agoraphobia
Volume: 18 Issue: 35
Author(s): Kirsten-Rita Engel, Borwin Bandelow, Charlott Neumann, Katrin Obst and Dirk Wedekind
Affiliation:
Keywords: Panic disorder and agoraphobia, phobic exposure, symptom clusters, cortisol
Abstract: Visual emotional stimulation is supposed to elicit psycho-vegetative reactions, which are similar to as the ones elicited by exposure to actual experience. Visual stimulation paradigms have been widely used in studies on agoraphobia with and without panic disorder. However, the applied imagery has hardly ever been disorder- and subject- specific.
have been examined. Subjects were confronted with 146 picture showing characteristic agoraphobic situations (high places, narrow places, crowds, public transport facilities, or wide places) or pictures associated with acute physical emergency (panic) situations, which had been pre-selected by anxiety experts. Participants were asked to rate emotional arousal induced by the respective images on the Self- Assessment Manikin scale (SAM). Data on PDA severity (PAS) depressive symptoms (MADRS) and sociodemographic data were recorded. Saliva cortisol levels were measured before and after exposure in a second test applying the individually mostly feared stimuli combined with emotionally neutral pictures for every single patient. 117 of the PDA-specific images were rated significantly more fear-eliciting by patients than by healthy individuals. Sub-categorization into agoraphobia clusters showed differential effects of clusters with regard to gender distribution, severity of PDA and cortisol secretion during exposure. In this study disorder specific and individual characteristics of agoraphobia were assessed for use in future trials applying emotional imagery. It could be used for the differential assessment of PDA and associated neurobiological and psychological phenomena and in neuroimaging paradigms.Export Options
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Cite this article as:
Engel Kirsten-Rita, Bandelow Borwin, Neumann Charlott, Obst Katrin and Wedekind Dirk, Disorder-Specific Emotional Imagery for Differential and Quantitative Assessment of Agoraphobia, Current Pharmaceutical Design 2012; 18 (35) . https://dx.doi.org/10.2174/138161212803530862
DOI https://dx.doi.org/10.2174/138161212803530862 |
Print ISSN 1381-6128 |
Publisher Name Bentham Science Publisher |
Online ISSN 1873-4286 |
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