Grillon Christian, Duncko Roman, Covington Matthew F, Kopperman Lori, Kling Mitchel A
Unit of Affective Psychophysiology, Intramural Research Program, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892-2670, USA.
Biol Psychiatry. 2007 Nov 15;62(10):1183-6. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2007.06.007. Epub 2007 Aug 10.
Stress is an important factor in the development and maintenance of anxiety disorders. Stress also potentiates anxiety-like response in animals, but empirical evidence for a similar effect in humans is still lacking.
To test whether stress increases anxiety in humans, we examined the ability of a social stressor (speech and a counting task) to potentiate the facilitation of startle in the dark. Measures of subjective distress and of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and autonomic nervous system activity (e.g., salivary cortisol, alpha-amylase, blood pressure, and heart rate) were also taken to confirm the effectiveness of the stress manipulation.
Startle was significantly facilitated in the dark. This effect was potentiated by prior exposure to the social stressor. The social stressor induced increases in salivary cortisol and alpha amylase as well as increases in blood pressure, heart rate, and subjective distress.
The findings indicate that stress potentiates anxiety. Animal studies suggest that such an effect might be mediated by glucocorticoid effects on corticotropin-releasing hormone in limbic structures.
压力是焦虑症发生和维持的一个重要因素。压力还会增强动物的焦虑样反应，但人类中类似效应的实证证据仍然缺乏。
为了测试压力是否会增加人类的焦虑，我们研究了一种社会压力源（演讲和计数任务）增强黑暗中惊吓反应的能力。还测量了主观痛苦以及下丘脑 - 垂体 - 肾上腺轴和自主神经系统活动（如唾液皮质醇、α - 淀粉酶、血压和心率），以确认压力操纵的有效性。
黑暗中惊吓反应显著增强。先前暴露于社会压力源会增强这种效应。社会压力源导致唾液皮质醇和α - 淀粉酶增加，以及血压、心率和主观痛苦增加。
研究结果表明压力会增强焦虑。动物研究表明，这种效应可能由糖皮质激素对边缘结构中促肾上腺皮质激素释放激素的作用介导。
