Citation

Orr SP, Lasko NB, Shalev AY, Pitman RK. J. Abnorm. Psychol. 1995; 104(1): 75-82.

Affiliation

Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center, Manchester, New Hampshire 03103.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1995, American Psychological Association)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

7897056

Abstract

The authors evaluated eyeblink and autonomic components of the acoustic startle response in combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Thirty-seven Vietnam combat veterans with current PTSD and 19 combat veterans without PTSD were exposed to 15 consecutive 95-dB, 500-ms, 1000-Hz tones with 0-ms rise and fall times, while orbicularis oculi electromyogram, skin conductance, and heart rate responses were measured. PTSD veterans produced larger averaged electromyographic and heart rate responses, and a slower decline in skin conductance responses, across the 15 tone presentations compared to non-PTSD veterans. Results of this study provide laboratory support for an exaggerated startle response in PTSD and replicate and extend previous findings of increased autonomic responses to loud tone stimuli in this disorder.

Language: en