Ali Nida, Nitschke Jonas P, Cooperman Cory, Pruessner Jens C
Department of Psychology, McGill University, 1205 Dr. Penfield Avenue, Montreal, QC, Canada.
Department of Psychology, McGill University, 1205 Dr. Penfield Avenue, Montreal, QC, Canada.
Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2017 Apr;78:125-130. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2017.01.015. Epub 2017 Jan 28.
Acute psychosocial stress activates the physiological and endocrine stress systems and increases the subjective emotional experience of stress. While considerable efforts have been made to link changes in the activity of the biological stress systems with changes in the subjective emotional experience of stress, results so far have been mixed, at best. To investigate this association in a study employing experimental manipulation, we pharmacologically suppressed both the autonomic and the endocrine stress responses, and investigated the effects of acute psychosocial stress on the emotional stress experience. 22 healthy men and women received dexamethasone (2mg) the day before, and propranolol (80mg) one hour before psychosocial stress induction. A control group (n=24) received placebo pills on each occasion. Salivary cortisol, alpha-amylase and heart-rate responses to stress were assessed before, during and after stress induction. Subjective stress, mood, and state self-esteem assessments were made before and after stress. In the pharmacological manipulation group, subjects demonstrated no increase in autonomic or endocrine stress response, after exposure to psychosocial stress. Despite these effects, the emotional stress experience was intact in this group and identical to the control group. Participants in the experimental group showed an increase in subjective stress, greater mood dysregulation, and lower state self-esteem following stress exposure, with the response magnitude comparable to the control group. Our findings suggest that at least acutely, the physiological stress arousal systems and the emotional experience of stress are dissociated. This raises important questions about the efficacy of our measurement of subjective stress, and the unique contributions of the autonomic and endocrine responses in the subjective stress experience.
急性心理社会应激会激活生理和内分泌应激系统，并增加应激的主观情绪体验。尽管人们已经付出了相当大的努力，试图将生物应激系统活动的变化与应激的主观情绪体验的变化联系起来，但迄今为止，结果充其量也只是喜忧参半。为了在一项采用实验操作的研究中调查这种关联，我们通过药物抑制自主神经和内分泌应激反应，并研究急性心理社会应激对情绪应激体验的影响。22名健康男性和女性在心理社会应激诱导前一天服用地塞米松（2毫克），并在诱导前一小时服用普萘洛尔（80毫克）。对照组（n = 24）每次均服用安慰剂药丸。在应激诱导前、期间和之后评估唾液皮质醇、α-淀粉酶和心率对应激的反应。在应激前后进行主观应激、情绪和状态自尊评估。在药物操作组中，受试者在暴露于心理社会应激后，自主神经或内分泌应激反应没有增加。尽管有这些影响，但该组的情绪应激体验完好无损，与对照组相同。实验组的参与者在应激暴露后主观应激增加、情绪失调更严重且状态自尊更低，反应程度与对照组相当。我们的研究结果表明，至少在急性情况下，生理应激唤醒系统和应激的情绪体验是分离的。这就引出了关于我们主观应激测量的有效性以及自主神经和内分泌反应在主观应激体验中的独特作用的重要问题。
