Department of Psychology, University of Hartford.
Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina.
Psychol Trauma. 2018 Jul;10(4):427-434. doi: 10.1037/tra0000342. Epub 2017 Nov 20.
This study uniquely examined the impact of maltreatment (without a diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder [PTSD]) on physiological responses to a physical and an emotional stressor. The study sample was composed exclusively of women, because men may differ in maltreatment experience and neural regulation of physiological reactivity.
Participants were 60 female college students. A significant proportion of the participants reported experiencing childhood maltreatment without a history of PTSD. Participants completed measures assessing psychological and PTSD symptomatology. Heart rate was monitored before, during, and after riding a stationary bike (physical stressor) and viewing a video of a child being maltreated (emotional stressor). Baseline and stressor related patterns of heart rate and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) were quantified from the beat-to-beat heart rate.
Women with maltreatment histories reported more psychological distress and PTSD symptomatology, had lower levels of RSA and faster heart rate, and reacted to the stressors with atypical vagal regulation of RSA and heart rate.
Accompanying psychological difficulties, women with maltreatment histories exhibit atypical physiological regulation to stressors consistent with clinical observations of lower thresholds to defensiveness and other manifestations of compromised resilience. The findings are consistent with polyvagal theory, which emphasizes the role of the "vagal brake" in social engagement and coregulation behaviors-features frequently compromised in survivors of emotional and physical abuse. Future research should investigate whether these features of atypical autonomic regulation are lead indicators of mental and physical health risks and whether these features can be reversed. (PsycINFO Database Record
这项研究独特地考察了虐待（无创伤后应激障碍 [PTSD] 诊断）对身体和情绪应激源的生理反应的影响。研究样本完全由女性组成，因为男性在虐待经历和生理反应的神经调节方面可能存在差异。
参与者为 60 名女性大学生。相当一部分参与者报告说有过童年虐待经历，但没有 PTSD 病史。参与者完成了评估心理和 PTSD 症状的量表。在骑固定自行车（身体应激源）和观看儿童受虐视频（情绪应激源）之前、期间和之后，监测心率。从心率的逐拍中量化了心率和呼吸窦性心律失常（RSA）的基线和应激相关模式。
有虐待史的女性报告了更多的心理困扰和 PTSD 症状，RSA 水平较低，心率较快，对这些应激源的反应表现出 RSA 和心率的迷走神经调节异常。
除了心理困难外，有虐待史的女性对压力源表现出异常的生理调节，这与临床观察到的防御能力降低和其他适应能力受损的表现一致。这些发现与多迷走神经理论一致，该理论强调了“迷走神经制动”在社会参与和核心调节行为中的作用，这些特征在情感和身体虐待的幸存者中经常受到损害。未来的研究应该调查这些非典型自主调节特征是否是心理健康和身体健康风险的早期指标，以及这些特征是否可以逆转。
