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Twenty-four female undergraduates, 12 high on anxiety sensitivity and 12 low on anxiety sensitivity, were subjected to a hyperventilation challenge task. Physiologic and subjective measures of arousal and distress were obtained before, during, and after the hyperventilation challenge. Alternating between the eight 15-second intervals of hyperventilation, participants engaged in a heartbeat-tracking task for eight 10-second intervals to assess interoceptive acuity. Although the hyperventilation challenge produced phase main effects for physiologic arousal, and group and time main effects for subjective distress, there were no significant interaction effects. Results revealed no significant interoceptive acuity differences across the low and high anxiety sensitivity groups. However, subjective ratings of physiological sensations during hyperventilation were significantly greater for the high anxiety sensitivity group. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that anxiety sensitivity accounted for additional variance beyond trait anxiety in explaining subjective ratings of arousal and distress in this nonclinical sample in response to a hyperventilation challenge.

Coping with chronic pain during exposure to pain produced by activity was examined in 30 patients with chronic low back pain referred to a university pain management center. Patients' range of motion, autonomic responses, and anticipatory anxiety ratings before exposure and ratings of pain and anxiety after exposure were assessed, and the number of repetitions of the activities that produced the pain was recorded. Analyses showed that using coping self-statement was associated with lower skin conductance during anticipation and greater range of motion. Praying, hoping, and catastrophizing were associated with greater anticipatory anxiety, greater anxiety during the painful activity, and less range of motion from the onset of increased pain to the point of pain tolerance. Praying and hoping were associated with higher pain ratings and fewer repetitions of the activity. Assessment of coping during an incident of pain and multiple methods to measure pain and distress provided convincing evidence that patients' self-management responses influence the consequences of pain exposure.

Anxiety sensitivity refers to the degree to which an individual fears symptoms of anxiety because of beliefs about anxiety's aversive consequences. Heart-rate reactivity and sensitivity to physiology were investigated in 59 female undergraduate participants. It was predicted that compared to women with low anxiety sensitivity, women with high anxiety sensitivity would exhibit higher heart rates and greater cardiac awareness during a mental arithmetic and caffeine manipulation. Women high on anxiety sensitivity were significantly more accurate at counting heartbeats during arithmetic than women low on anxiety sensitivity, although absolute heart rate did not differ across groups. Self-report data for caffeine-induced physical sensations support the use of caffeine challenge tasks in future research on anxiety sensitivity.

Thirty-eight adults were assigned to three groups: posttreatment hyperthyroid (n=13), low euthyroid (n=12), and high euthyroid (n=13). Physiological and subjective responses to three anxiety-induction procedures—public speaking, personally distressing imagery, and threat of shock—were compared across groups. Although there were differences across stressors for physiological and subjective measures, group differences were not detected. Results are discussed with regard to the risk for residual anxiety following treatment for hyperthyroidism and the possible influence of thyroid function on the etiology or maintenance of anxiety.

A brief review of biological and psychological classification systems reveals that existing taxonomies have focused on discrete, static classifications of panic. Our paper introduces a dynamic, idiographic phenomenological system to characterize panic as it occurs across the anxiety disorders. The model consists of four grids, each with four quadrants, that focus on the degree and specificity of physiological change, catastrophic cognitions, and somatic sensations, as well as the extent and type of affect experienced. Preliminary data from an ambulatory home monitoring study are presented to demonstrate the utility of the model. A primary contribution of the model is that it increases precision and emphasizes assessment across measurement domains. The proposed system may provide the basis for future research in a number of areas, which are delineated.

This study investigated the physiological, subjective and behavioral responses to hyperventilation of four groups of Ss with: (1) clinical panic disorder (n = 13); (2) infrequent panic (n = 16); (3) no panic and high trait anxiety (n = 16); and (4) no panic and low trait anxiety. After completing a number of anxiety-related questionnaires, Ss participated in 2 min of hyperventilation during which heart rate and electrodermal activity were recorded continuously. Subjective sensations and cognitions during hyperventilation were assessed immediately following the task. After recovery, Ss could participate in a second, optional hyperventilation from which they could escape at any time. Analyses revealed no group differences in physiological responses to the hyperventilation, although group differences in subjective sensations and cognitions were found. Data are discussed with regards to the role of physiological processes vs subjective responses to anxiety-provoking stimuli in the psychopathology of clinical panic disorder.

Three hundred eleven female undergraduates completed the Trait form of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and the Panic Attack Questionnaire. One hundred thirty-nine subjects reported having experienced a panic; ten met frequency and symptom criteria for panic disorder, four reported infrequent panic with fewer than four symptoms (limited symptom panic), and the remainder ( n = 125) were classified as infrequent panickers. Fifty-eight percent of the infrequent panickers had experienced an unexpected panic. Infrequent panickers had significantly higher trait anxiety than nonpanickers and were significantly more likely to have a family member who had experienced panic. Factor analysis of panic symptoms revealed four significant factors: panic cognitions and three factors involving physiological symptoms. Factor analytic procedures may shed light on characteristics that predict the development of panic disorder.

The extant laboratory research on anxiety-related attentional bias in response to external threat cues is discussed. Studies utilizing dichotic listening tasks, modified Stroop color naming tasks, and reaction time tasks are critically reviewed. Findings are summarized according to method, anxiety disorder, clinical versus nonclinical subjects, and treatment outcome studies. The data suggest that clinically anxious subjects show an attentional bias towards threat cues specific to their disorder, while anxious nonclinical subjects show bias towards general threat. However, methodological concerns preclude absolute statements. The implications of attentional bias are discussed, and recommendations for future research are made.

A 29-year old male with an 8-month history of spasmodic torticollis was treated after three baseline assessments with progressive relaxation, positive practice, and visual feedback. Subjective, behavioral, and physiological (EMG) data indicated that EMG declined across baseline assessments and treatment, while substantial changes in subjective and behavioral data occurred with treatment. Improvement on all dependent measures also was found at a 2-year follow-up. The data are discussed in terms of the non-specific effects of treatment, and the utility and economy of these primarily self-administered procedures.

Forty female undergraduates forming four groups, high or low trait anxiety with or without a specific fear (rats), participated in a psychophysiological assessment of their response to the phobic object, a neutral object (rabbit), and to a general anxiety-induction procedure (threat of shock). Subjects also completed a number of tasks requiring sustained attention. Blood samples were drawn to determine thyroid hormone (T3 and T4) levels. Trait anxiety was found to interact with specific fear in response to the feared object. The high-trait anxious/high-fear group was most physiologically responsive to the rat. Trait- anxious subjects were more responsive to the threat of shock and showed performance deficits on reaction time, vigilance, and backward digit span tasks. These subjects also had significantly higher T3 and T4 levels. The findings are discussed with regard to the role of general anxiety in the etiology and/or maintenance of specific fears and the role of thyroid hormones in accentuating physiological response to feared stimuli.

Six adults with non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus participated in a laboratory procedure to determine the effects of an acute stressor, mental arithmetic, on blood glucose, cardiovascular, and subjective indices of stress. They then completed 12 days home monitoring of stressful events, subjective stress, and blood glucose. Diet and activity were controlled to evaluate the direct effects of stress on blood glucose in the natural environment. Laboratory results showed significant increases in blood glucose, cardiovascular (HR and SBP), and subjective stress ratings during the mental arithmetic task when compared to a resting condition. Home monitoring data were consistent with the laboratory findings; blood glucose range tended to be greater on high vs low stress days, especially when the difference between high and low stress was greatest. These findings suggest that the laboratory stress induction procedure was externally valid and that in the natural environment, stress has a hyperglycemic effect on blood glucose.

Self-reported measures of perceived threat of illness, health protective behaviors, psychological well-being, and family modeling of health behaviors of 30 adults with a parental history of non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) were compared with responses from 29 adults with a parental history of hypertension and 30 adults with no parental history of chronic illness. The NIDDM risk group reported significantly more perceived threats of NIDDM and hypertension and more weight-control efforts than the controls did. Reports of the NIDDM risk respondents concerning physician screening, healthy diet, and exercise did not differ from reports of individuals without a family history of NIDDM. Perceived threat, psychological well-being, and family modeling did not correlate with health-protective behaviors. The findings suggest that offspring of adults diagnosed with NIDDM perceive themselves to be at risk of NIDDM and engage in health behaviors, such as weight control, to protect themselves from NIDDM onset.

The relationship between panic expectancy, social demand and agoraphobic avoidance was investigated in a group of 48 panic disorder subjects. Subjects were observed surreptitiously while completing a naturalistic behavioral avoidance task (BAT) involving either a high or low social challenge task. Subjects in the high social challenge task avoided more compared to subjects in the low social challenge task. Prediction of panic made before entering the situation and type of social challenge condition (high/low) were the only variables that accounted for significant amounts of unique variance in prediction of BAT score. The results confirm previous findings regarding the relationship between panic expectancy and avoidance and suggest that social interaction and scrutiny is a factor in avoidance.

This study examined the effect of two different psychological stressors on regional cardiac perfusion in six men with coronary heart disease (CHD) and nine healthy controls. Subjects recalled an anger experience and an anger plus helpless (i.e., Desperation Recall Task) experience during positron emission tomography (PET). Emotional reactivity, blood pressure, and heart rate were also assessed. Experimental manipulations generated significant emotional and cardiovascular reactivity. Cardiac perfusion to diseased myocardial segments failed to show any significant differences between CHD patients' diseased segments and controls' healthy segments for the Anger Recall task or the Desperation Recall Task. Results failed to confirm previous findings of coronary artery constriction while reliving an angry experience, yet are consistent with other studies utilizing mental arithmetic. Vasoactive medication use, sample size, and perfusion variability may have contributed to these findings.

Eight subjects (Ss) with non-insulin-dependent diabetes (NIDDM) monitored their stress, blood glucose (BG), food intake, activity (via pedometer), mood, and coping responses for 8 days. They alternated 2 daily, self-selected ADA food-exchange diets to control for the effects of stress on adherence to diet. BG was significantly higher on high-stress compared to low-stress days. This effect was at least partially mediated by the effect of stress on activity; Ss were significantly less active on high-stress days. Further analyses suggested idiosyncratic relationships between mood and BG, and some evidence was found to suggest a relation between stress, coping, and BG.

Forty-eight females were evaluated to detect differences in panic-related symptomatology and physiological responses to 2 min of hyperventilation. Ss were divided into 3 groups: infrequent panickers; no panic/high trait anxiety; and no panic/low trait anxiety. The low trait anxiety group scored significantly lower on various self-report measures of anxiety-related symptomatology compared to Ss with infrequent panic and high trait anxiety. Hyperventilation produced no significant group differences in physiological reactivity or recovery. However, Ss with low trait anxiety reported significantly less severe sensations and a significantly lower incidence of panic during hyperventilation than the infrequent panickers and the high trait anxiety group. Ss who panicked during hyperventilation reported more intense sensations and negative cognitions than those who did not panic. Thus, Ss were distinguished by their subjective, but not their physiological responses.

The acute effects of two psychological stressors (personally stressful imagery and threat of shock) on blood glucose (BG), heart rate, blood pressure, skin conductance, and subjective stress were studied in 22 noninsulin-dependent diabetic adults and nine healthy, nondiabetic subjects similar in age, weight, education and sex. The diabetic group's BG rose significantly after threat of shock (M change from rest = 18.4 mg/dL, p < .05), although the nondiabetic group's BG remained stable throughout the assessment. Significant increases in subjective stress ratings (p < .05) and skin conductance level (p < .05) paralleled the noninsulin-dependent diabetes mellitis (NIDDM) subjects' BG response to threat of shock. The findings suggest that some stressors can have hyperglycemic effects on individuals with NIDDM, although generalization of these findings to the natural environment remains to be demonstrated. The methodology used is contrasted with other studies that have failed to demonstrate stress effects on BG.

Three hundred thirty-seven female undergraduates completed the Trait Form of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and the Fear Survey Schedule-II (FSS) to determine if any specific fear factor was significantly related to STAI score. All fear factor scores and the total FSS-II score were significantly correlated with the STAI score and with each other. A stepwise regression procedure indicated that Factor 1, Fear of Social Interaction, accounted for 25.2% of the variance in STAI scores (p

The effect of occipital ablation on the visual sensitivity to low levels of illumination in young and old rats was studied using a signal detection task. A significant decrease in sensitivity following ablation was found for both age groups, which could be eliminated by increasing the apparent brightness of the visual stimuli. Results are discussed in terms of the role of the occipital cortex in detecting low levels of illumination.

By the use of a multifaceted exposure program that lasted 16 weeks, a 27-year-old male was treated for debilitating and irrational fears of having a heart attack. The subject reported reductions in daily anxiety ratings and Valium intake at midtreatment and further reductions at the conclusion of treatment. These changes were maintained at 6- and 12-month followup assessments. The subject's reports were confirmed by his spouse. The results are discussed in terms of the behavioral characteristics and etiology of disease phobia.

SYNOPSIS Bilateral blood volume pulse (BVP) recordings from the frontotemporal artery were obtained from a migraineur and eight non-migraineurs prior to and following the presentation of a novel laboratory stressor - the consumption of ice water. The results revealed a markedly different pattern of BVP activity in the migraineur compared to the non-migraineurs. The implications of these findings for assessing the disregulation of the vasomotor response system are noted. In addition, the novel stressor used in this study may be used for inducing migraine attacks in controlled laboratory environment.

The ability to detect low levels of light was studied in two age groups. It was found that the sensitivity of the younger rats (157 days old) was greater than the sensitivity of the older rats (420 days old). However, altering the olfactory environment produced an increase in sensitivity to light in both groups.

The visual sensitivity of rats was studied under four dose levels of dextroamphetamine sulfate. It was found that drug administration produced a significant dose-related decrease in visual sensitivity. The results are discussed in terms of the possible sites of action of the drug that might produce such results.

The effectiveness of relaxation training, imaginal exposure and in vivo exposure to pills in the treatment of pill-taking avoidance resulting from a fear of poisoning associated with Tylenol was investigated. Following relaxation training and imaginal exposure to vitamin consumption, one session of in vivo exposure to vitamin taking resulted in daily vitamin use. One session of in vivo exposure to aspirin and placebo capsules (substitutes for prescribed medication) resulted in consumption of aspirin as needed and daily ingestion of placebo pills. Interestingly, treatment effects generalized to leftovers and wine, two related phobic stimuli, without additional intervention. At three and six month follow-up, the subject reported maintenance of treatment effects. Psychophysiological assessment data were consistent with the subject's self-report.