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Psychosocial stress reactivity habituates following acute physiological stress.

ABSTRACT: Acute and chronic stress are important factors in the development of mental disorders. Reliable measurement of stress reactivity is therefore pivotal. Critically, experimental induction of stress often involves multiple "hits" and it is an open question whether individual differences in responses to an earlier stressor lead to habituation, sensitization, or simple additive effects on following events. Here, we investigated the effect of the individual cortisol response to intravenous catheter placement (IVP) on subsequent neural, psychological, endocrine, and autonomous stress reactivity. We used an established psychosocial stress paradigm to measure the acute stress response (Stress) and recovery (PostStress) in 65 participants. Higher IVP-induced cortisol responses were associated with lower pulse rate increases during stress recovery (b = -4.8 bpm, p = .0008) and lower increases in negative affect after the task (b = -4.2, p = .040). While the cortisol response to IVP was not associated with subsequent specific stress-induced neural activation patterns, the similarity of brain responses Pre- and PostStress was higher IVP-cortisol responders (t[64] = 2.35, p = .022) indicating faster recovery. In conclusion, preparatory stress induced by IVP reduced reactivity in a subsequent stress task by modulating the latency of stress recovery. Thus, an individually stronger preceding release of cortisol may attenuate a second physiological response and perceived stress suggesting that relative changes, not absolute levels are crucial for stress attribution. Our study highlights that considering the entire trajectory of stress induction during an experiment is important to develop reliable individual biomarkers.

SUBMITTER: Kuhnel A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7469805 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Psychosocial stress reactivity habituates following acute physiological stress.

Kühnel Anne A Kroemer Nils B NB Elbau Immanuel G IG Czisch Michael M Sämann Philipp G PG Walter Martin M Binder Elisabeth B EB

Human brain mapping 20200629 14

Acute and chronic stress are important factors in the development of mental disorders. Reliable measurement of stress reactivity is therefore pivotal. Critically, experimental induction of stress often involves multiple "hits" and it is an open question whether individual differences in responses to an earlier stressor lead to habituation, sensitization, or simple additive effects on following events. Here, we investigated the effect of the individual cortisol response to intravenous catheter pl ...[more]

PMID: 32597537

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Project description:Exposure to excessive and long-term stress may result in dysregulation of the stress system, including the acute stress response. In particular, failure to downregulate stress-related reactivity may lead to prolonged stress responses and the accumulation of allostatic load. However, the contribution of altered acute cortisol recovery to chronic stress and associated health impairments has often been neglected. Addressing this lack of research, we explored whether recovery from - more so than reactivity to - acute stress captures the basal stress load of an individual. Using Piecewise Growth Curve Models with Landmark Registration, we analyzed cortisol reactivity and recovery slopes of 130 healthy participants exposed to a standardized psychosocial laboratory stressor. Reactivity and recovery were predicted by measures indicative of long-term stress and its downstream effects, including self-report questionnaires, diurnal cortisol indices [cortisol awakening response (CAR); diurnal cortisol slope], markers of pro-inflammatory activity (interleukin-6; high-sensitive C-reactive protein), and hippocampal volume (HCV). Among these measures, only an increased CAR was specifically and consistently associated with relatively impaired recovery. Since the CAR represents the physiological enhancement needed to meet the anticipated demands of the forthcoming day, this finding may highlight the contribution of cognitive processes in determining both CAR and acute stress recovery. Furthermore, greater cortisol reactivity covaried with smaller HCV, showing that increased acute reactivity translates to health-relevant downstream effects. The lack of further associations between long-term and acute stress measures may arise from biases in self-reported chronic stress and the rigorously health-screened study sample. Overall, our findings suggest that while cortisol stress recovery might not supersede reactivity as an indicator of the long-term stress load or associated health effects, recovery and reactivity have differential utility in describing individuals' allostatic states.

Project description:IntroductionAcute myocardial infarction (MI) is a potentially fatal condition, leading to high psychological distress and possibly resulting in the development of depressive symptoms and posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS). The aim of this study was to investigate the association of clusters of positive psychosocial factors (resilience, task-oriented coping, positive affect and social support) with both MI-induced depressive symptoms and PTSS, independent of demographic factors.MethodsWe investigated 154 consecutive patients with MI, 3 and 12 months after hospital discharge. All patients completed the short version of the German Resilience Scale, the Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations (CISS), the Enriched Social Support Inventory (ESSI) and the Global Mood Scale (GMS). The level of interviewer-rated MI-induced posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms at 3- and 12-months follow-up was evaluated through the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS). Depressive symptoms were assessed at 3- and 12-month follow-up with the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II).ResultsThree different clusters were revealed: (1) lonely cluster: lowest social support, resilience and average task-oriented coping and positive affect; (2) low risk cluster: highest resilience, task-oriented coping, positive affect and social support; (3) avoidant cluster: lowest task-oriented coping, positive affect, average resilience and social support. The clusters differed in depressive symptoms at 3 months (F = 5.10; p < 0.01) and 12 months follow-up (F = 7.56; p < 0.01). Cluster differences in PTSS were significant at 3 months (F = 4.78, p < 0.05) and 12 months (F = 5.57, p < 0.01) follow-up. Differences in PTSS subscales were found for avoidance (F = 4.8, p < 0.05) and hyperarousal (F = 5.63, p < 0.05), but not re-experiencing, at 3 months follow-up. At 12 months follow-up, cluster differences were significant for re-experiencing (F = 6.44, p < 0.01) and avoidance (F = 4.02, p < 0.05) but not hyperarousal.DiscussionThe present study contributes to a better understanding of the relationships among different positive psychosocial factors, depressive symptoms and PTSS following acute MI. Future interventions may benefit from taking into account positive psychosocial factors to potentially reduce patients' depressive symptoms and PTSS after MI.

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Psychosocial stress reactivity habituates following acute physiological stress.

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Psychosocial stress reactivity habituates following acute physiological stress.

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