Heesink Lieke, Kleber Rolf, Häfner Michael, van Bedaf Laury, Eekhout Iris, Geuze Elbert
Research Centre Military Mental Health Care, Ministry of Defense, Utrecht, The Netherlands; University Medical Center Utrecht, Department of Psychiatry, Utrecht, The Netherlands; Utrecht University, Department of Clinical Psychology, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Utrecht University, Department of Clinical Psychology, Utrecht, The Netherlands; Foundation Arq, Diemen, The Netherlands.
Biol Psychol. 2017 Feb;123:119-125. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2016.12.004. Epub 2016 Dec 8.
Anger and aggression are frequent problems in deployed military personnel. A lowered threshold of perceiving and responding to threat can trigger impulsive aggression. This can be indicated by an exaggerated startle response. Fifty-two veterans with anger and aggression problems (Anger group) and 50 control veterans were tested using a startle experiment with 10 startle probes and 10 prepulse trials, presented in a random order and with a random interval between the trials. Predictors (demographics, Trait Anger, State Anger, Harm Avoidance and Anxious Arousal) for the startle response within the Anger group were tested. Increased EMG responses were found to the startle probes in the Anger Group compared to the Control group, but not to the prepulse trials. Furthermore, Harm Avoidance and State Anger predicted the increased startle reflex within the Anger group, whereas Trait Anger was negatively related to the startle reflex. These findings indicate that threat reactivity is increased in anger and aggression problems. These problems are not only caused by an anxious predisposition, the degree of anger also predicts the startle reflex.
愤怒和攻击行为是现役军人中常见的问题。对威胁的感知和反应阈值降低会引发冲动性攻击行为。这可通过夸张的惊吓反应表现出来。对52名有愤怒和攻击行为问题的退伍军人（愤怒组）和50名对照退伍军人进行了一项惊吓实验测试，实验中有10次惊吓探测和10次预脉冲试验，以随机顺序呈现，试验之间间隔随机。对愤怒组内惊吓反应的预测因素（人口统计学特征、特质愤怒、状态愤怒、回避伤害和焦虑性唤起）进行了测试。与对照组相比，愤怒组对惊吓探测的肌电图反应增强，但对预脉冲试验的反应未增强。此外，回避伤害和状态愤怒预测了愤怒组内惊吓反射增强，而特质愤怒与惊吓反射呈负相关。这些发现表明，在愤怒和攻击行为问题中，威胁反应性增强。这些问题不仅由焦虑倾向引起，愤怒程度也可预测惊吓反射。
