Citation

Jones-Alexander J, Blanchard EB, Hickling EJ. Appl. Psychophysiol. Biofeedback 2005; 30(2): 115-123.

Affiliation

Center for Stress and Anxiety Disorders, University at Albany, Albany, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2005, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

16013784

Abstract

Twenty-one children and adolescents (age range 8-17, mean 12.7 years) who had been in motor vehicle accidents (MVAs), and 14 non-MVA controls matched for age and gender, underwent a psychophysiological assessment in which heart rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and skin conductance were measured during baseline and two stressor phases: mental arithmetic and listening to and imagining a MVA like their own. The eight youth who currently met criteria for PTSD or sub-syndromal PTSD significantly reported more subjective distress to the MVA audiotape than the 13 MVA non-PTSD youth or the 14 non-MVA controls. All groups responded physiologically to the mental arithmetic. However, in contrast to expectations, there were no differential physiological responses among the groups to the stimuli reminiscent of the trauma. Possible explanations are explored.