Blunted emotion-modulated startle reflex in anorexia nervosa

• Verfasst von: Brockmeyer, Timo [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Walther, Stephan [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Herzog, Wolfgang [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Friederich, Hans-Christoph [VerfasserIn]
• Titel: Blunted emotion-modulated startle reflex in anorexia nervosa
• Verf.angabe: Timo Brockmeyer, Judith Pellegrino, Christoph Maier, Hannah M. Münch, Catherine J. Harmer, Stephan Walther, Wolfgang Herzog, Hans-Christoph Friederich
• E-Jahr: 2019
• Jahr: 17 January 2019
• Umfang: 8 S.
• Teil: volume:52
• Teil: year:2019
• Teil: number:3
• Teil: pages:270-277
• Teil: extent:8
• Fussnoten: Gesehen am 13.05.2019
• Titel Quelle: Enthalten in: The international journal of eating disorders
• Ort Quelle: New York, NY : Wiley, 1981
• Jahr Quelle: 2019
• Band/Heft Quelle: 52(2019), 3, Seite 270-277
• ISSN Quelle: 1098-108X
• DOI: doi:10.1002/eat.23022
• Datenträger: Online-Ressource
• Sprache: eng
• Sach-SW: eating disorders
• Sach-SW: emotion
• Sach-SW: emotional reactivity
• Sach-SW: eyeblink reflex
• Sach-SW: startle modulation
• K10plus-PPN: 1665274506

Abstract

Objective Patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) often show difficulties in the perception, expression, and regulation of emotions and a strong avoidance of aversive feelings. According to psychobiological models, dietary restraint and accompanying weight loss may serve as a maladaptive mechanism of emotion regulation by attenuating aversive emotional states in AN, thereby contributing to the maintenance of the disorder. Method Twenty-seven women with AN and 26 age-matched healthy women were shown short film-clips to elicit fear, sadness, amusement, and neutral emotional states. Eyeblink startle response was measured by electromyography in reaction to startle-eliciting acoustic stimuli presented 12 times binaurally during each film-clip. Results As compared to healthy controls, patients with AN showed a blunted startle response to the fear- but not to the sadness-eliciting stimulus. Discussion The findings support the assumption that underweight is associated with attenuated emotional reactivity to fear-eliciting material in AN. This is in line with the hypothesis that starvation and low body weight constitute a maladaptive mechanism of emotion regulation in AN, contributing to the maintenance of the disorder.