Abrams Murray P, Carleton R Nicholas, Taylor Steven, Asmundson Gordon J G
Anxiety and Illness Behaviours Laboratory, University of Regina, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada.
Depress Anxiety. 2009;26(6):550-6. doi: 10.1002/da.20462.
Tonic immobility (TI) is a temporary state of motor inhibition believed to be a response to situations involving extreme fear. Limited attention has been directed to studying TI in humans; however, the phenomenon has been well documented in the animal literature. In humans, TI is believed to occur during sexual assault, and there have been reports of fear-induced freezing in the contexts of air, naval, and other disasters.
This study had three main purposes: (1) to assess the factor structure of a new self-report measure--the Tonic Immobility Questionnaire--designed to assess human TI in a range of traumatic events; (2) to explore associations among discovered TIQ factors and a measure of posttraumatic symptoms in the context of trauma type; and (3) to determine whether TI is related to suspected and empirically supported predictors of posttraumatic stress disorder. Participants were a subset of undergraduate students (n=78) who reported a TI experience in the context of a traumatic event.
No differences were found in frequency or severity of TI reported across trauma types. Exploratory factor analysis of Tonic Immobility Questionnaire item responses resulted in a three-factor solution (i.e., physical immobility, fear, and dissociation). Significant positive correlations were found between the Tonic Immobility Questionnaire and measures of posttraumatic symptoms, dissociation, anxiety sensitivity, and absorption. Regression analysis revealed that peritraumatic dissociation scores alone accounted for 51% of the variance in TI scores.
TI may represent an extreme behavioral expression of trauma-induced peritraumatic dissociation. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.
紧张性不动（TI）是一种运动抑制的临时状态，被认为是对极端恐惧情况的一种反应。对人类TI的研究关注有限；然而，这一现象在动物文献中已有充分记载。在人类中，TI被认为发生在性侵犯期间，并且有报道称在空难、海难及其他灾难情况下会出现恐惧诱发的僵住反应。
本研究有三个主要目的：（1）评估一种新的自我报告测量工具——紧张性不动问卷——的因子结构，该问卷旨在评估一系列创伤事件中的人类TI；（2）在创伤类型的背景下，探讨所发现的TIQ因子与创伤后症状测量指标之间的关联；（3）确定TI是否与创伤后应激障碍的疑似及经实证支持的预测因素相关。参与者是一组本科生（n = 78），他们报告在创伤事件中经历过TI。
不同创伤类型报告的TI频率或严重程度未发现差异。对紧张性不动问卷项目反应进行探索性因子分析，得到一个三因子解决方案（即身体不动、恐惧和解离）。紧张性不动问卷与创伤后症状、解离、焦虑敏感性和专注性测量指标之间存在显著正相关。回归分析显示，仅创伤时解离分数就占TI分数变异的51%。
TI可能代表创伤诱发的创伤时解离的一种极端行为表现。讨论了未来研究的意义和方向。
