Global stress response during a social stress test: Impact of alexithymia and its subfactors

PSYCHONEUROENDOCRINOLOGY

卷:50

Article

Hua, Jiewen¹  Le Scanff, Christine¹  Larue, Jacques²  Jose, Ferreira³  Martin, Jean-Claude⁴  Devillers, Laurence⁵  Filaire, Edith² 

[1] Univ Paris 11, UFR STAPS, Lab CIAMS, EA4532, F-91405 Orsay, France

[2] Univ Orleans, Univ Paris 11, Lab CIAMS, EA4532,UFRSTAPS, F-45067 Orleans, France

[3] Univ Coimbra, Fac Sport Sci & Phys Educ, Res Ctr Sport & Phys Act, P-3000 Coimbra, Portugal

[4] Univ Paris 11, CNRS, Lab LIMSI, F-91405 Orsay, France

[5] Univ Paris 04, Univ Paris 11, CNRS, UPR 3251,LIMSI, F-91405 Orsay, France

关键词: Psychosocial stress;    Alexithymia;    Saliva;    Cortisol;    Chromogranin A;    Alpha-amylase;    Heart rate;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.psyneuen.2014.08.003

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

Objectives: Alexithymia is a personality trait characterized by difficulties in identifying, describing and communicating one's own emotions. Recent studies have associated specific effects of this trait and its subfactors with hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis markers during stress. The aim of this study was to analyze the association between alexithymia and its subfactors with HPA and sympatho-adrenal medullar (SAM) activity. Stress was induced experimentally using a public-speaking paradigm. Salivary cortisol, alpha-amylase (AA), chromogranin A (CgA) and heart rate (HR) were collected during the defined periods of baseline, stress, and recovery in 19 males and 24 female healthy university students. Results: Subjects reacted to the stressor with a significant cortisol and SAM response. Subjects scoring high on alexithymia reacted significantly more intensely than low scorers in basal anticipatory as well as peak cortisol and area under the curve. Regression analyses revealed that the increased HPA activity was related to only one alexithymia subfactor, the difficulty in differentiating feelings and distinguishing them from bodily sensations and emotion arousal. Conclusion: Alexithymia and its subfactors were specifically related to cortisol responses. This research should be replicated with more subjects and should take into account more parameters reflecting sympathetic and/or parasympathetic activation, as well as HPA axis. Factors such as coping strategies and the perception of the situation as a challenge have also to be explored. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

【 授权许可】

Free