Acute stress disorder versus chronic posttraumatic stress disorder: inhibition of fear as a function of time since trauma
Depression and Anxiety, 08/21/2012
Jovanovic T et al. – The data expand the previously observed findings of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)–associated fear inhibition deficits by demonstrating that trauma–related impairments in safety learning are evident within 30days of trauma exposure.
Methods- Using established translational, psychophysiological methods including fear-potentiated startle, and skin conductance, the authors examined fear acquisition, stimulus discrimination, and the transfer of learned safety in a Croatian population with ASD or PTSD.
- This cross-sectional study included three age-matched groups: healthy nontrauma controls (n=27), a group with chronic PTSD (10 or more years since trauma exposure, n=24), and a group with ASD (30days or less since trauma exposure, n=27).
- The presence of trauma-related psychopathology, whether acute or chronic, was associated with an impaired ability to transfer learned safety based on fear-potentiated startle measures, while healthy control subjects showed significant fear inhibition in the presence of the safety cue compared to the danger cue, F(1,26)=12.64, P=.001.
