Rimes Katharine A, Ashcroft Joanna, Bryan Lauren, Chalder Trudie
Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London.
Health Psychol. 2016 Sep;35(9):979-86. doi: 10.1037/hea0000341. Epub 2016 May 16.
Emotional processing differences in chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) have been reported but have rarely been investigated experimentally. This study used self-report, observer ratings, and electrodermal responses to test hypotheses about emotion suppression and autonomic reactivity.
Eighty adults with CFS and 80 healthy controls (HC) watched a distressing film clip. Half of each group were instructed to suppress their emotions and half were told to express their feelings as they wished. Their reactions were filmed and rated by independent observers. Electrodermal activity (skin conductance response) was used as a measure of sympathetic nervous system arousal.
CFS participants reported higher anxiety and sadness than the HC, both before and after the film. However, observers rated the CFS group as having lower emotional expression than HC in both emotional suppression and expression choice conditions. Beliefs about the unacceptability of negative emotions were associated with greater self-reported suppression. Electrodermal responses were greater in the CFS group than HC participants. Higher skin conductance responses were associated with larger posttask increases in fatigue in the CFS participants but not in the HC.
CFS participants had lower observer-rated emotional expression than HC, despite greater distress and higher autonomic arousal. This may have implications for their ability to access social support at times of stress. As the degree of autonomic arousal was associated with short-term increases in fatigue in the CFS participants, this requires further investigation as a contributory factor for this condition. (PsycINFO Database Record
慢性疲劳综合征（CFS）患者的情绪加工差异已有报道，但很少进行实验研究。本研究采用自我报告、观察者评分和皮肤电反应来检验关于情绪抑制和自主神经反应性的假设。
80名成年慢性疲劳综合征患者和80名健康对照者观看一段令人痛苦的电影片段。每组一半的人被要求抑制自己的情绪，另一半人被告知可以随意表达自己的感受。他们的反应被拍摄下来，并由独立观察者进行评分。皮肤电活动（皮肤电导反应）被用作交感神经系统唤醒的指标。
慢性疲劳综合征患者在观看电影前后报告的焦虑和悲伤程度均高于健康对照者。然而，在情绪抑制和表达选择条件下，观察者对慢性疲劳综合征组的情绪表达评分均低于健康对照组。对负面情绪不可接受性的信念与更高的自我报告抑制有关。慢性疲劳综合征组的皮肤电反应比健康对照组更大。在慢性疲劳综合征患者中，较高的皮肤电导反应与任务后疲劳的更大增加相关，但在健康对照组中则不然。
尽管慢性疲劳综合征患者有更大的痛苦和更高的自主神经唤醒，但观察者对其情绪表达的评分低于健康对照组。这可能会影响他们在压力时期获得社会支持的能力。由于自主神经唤醒程度与慢性疲劳综合征患者的短期疲劳增加有关，这需要作为该疾病的一个促成因素进行进一步研究。（PsycINFO数据库记录）
