Psychophysiology during exposure to trauma memories: Comparative effects of virtual reality and imaginal exposure for posttraumatic stress disorder.
Depress Anxiety
; 38(6): 626-638, 2021 06.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-33666322
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
This investigation involved an in-depth examination of psychophysiological responses during exposure to the trauma memory across 10 sessions among active duty soldiers with combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) treated by Prolonged Exposure (PE) or Virtual Reality Exposure (VRE). We compared psychophysiological changes, session-by-session, between VRE and traditional imaginal exposure.METHODS:
Heart rate (HR), galvanic skin response (GSR), and peripheral skin temperature were collected every 5 min during exposure sessions with 61 combat veterans of Iraq/Afghanistan and compared to the PTSD Checklist (PCL-C) and Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS) outcomes using multilevel modeling.RESULTS:
Over the course of treatment, participants in the PE group had higher HR arousal compared to participants in the VRE group. With reference to GSR, in earlier sessions, participants demonstrated a within-session increase, whereas, in later sessions, participants showed a within-session habituation response. A significant interaction was found for GSR and treatment assignment for within-session change, within-person effect, predicting CAPS (d = 0.70) and PCL-C (d = 0.66) outcomes.CONCLUSION:
Overall, these findings suggest that exposure to traumatic memories activates arousal across sessions, with GSR being most associated with reductions in PTSD symptoms for participants in the PE group.Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Transtornos de Estresse Pós-Traumáticos
/
Veteranos
/
Realidade Virtual
/
Terapia Implosiva
/
Militares
Tipo de estudo:
Prognostic_studies
Limite:
Humans
País como assunto:
Asia
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2021
Tipo de documento:
Article