Heart rate variability during social interaction: Effects of valence and emotion regulation.

Conceptual models of psychosocial influences on short-term changes (i.e., reactivity) in vagally-mediated heart rate variability (vmHRV) emphasize self-regulatory effort and social threat versus comfort. However, these two general perspectives have been tested separately in nearly all cases, limiting conclusions about the relative importance or possible interactive effects of effortful self-regulation and social stress. The present study compared effects of effort to regulate emotional expression and social stress versus safety on vmHRV reactivity during an interpersonal interaction, in a 2 (self-regulate emotion vs. express emotion freely) × 3 (positive vs. neutral vs. negative interaction valence) × 2 (male vs. female) between-subjects randomized factorial design. A sample of 180 undergraduates (90 women; 69 % White) discussed a current events topic (i.e., human-caused climate change) with a prerecorded partner, presented as a live interaction over a computer. Self-reports of affective responses, self-regulation effort, and appraisals of the partner's behavior, as well as observer ratings of participants' behavior during the interaction, supported the effectiveness of self-regulation and interaction valence manipulations, although the former manipulation may have been somewhat weaker than the latter. Primary analyses of high-frequency heart rate variability (HF-HRV) and root mean square of successive differences (RMSSD) in heart beat intervals recorded at baseline and during the interaction revealed larger decreases in vmHRV during negative than neutral or positive interactions, but no effects of self-regulation instructions. Overall, results indicated more robust effects of social stress on vmHRV reactivity, relative to effects of self-regulatory effort.

Resting high frequency heart rate variability and PTSD symptomatology in Veterans: Effects of respiration, role in elevated heart rate, and extension to spouses.

Heart rate variability (HRV) associated with parasympathetic activity (i.e., cardiac vagal tone) is reduced in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but possible confounding effects of respiration have not been studied sufficiently. Further, reduced parasympathetic inhibition might contribute to elevated heart rate (HR) in PTSD. Finally, reduced HRV in PTSD might extend to intimate partners, given their chronic stress exposure. In 65 couples (male Veterans, female partners), elevated PTSD symptomatology (n = 32; 28 met full DSM IV criteria, 4 fell slightly short) was documented by structured interview and self-reports. Baseline HR, high-frequency HRV (HF-HRV), cardiac pre-ejection period (PEP), and respiration rate and depth were measured via impedance cardiography. Veterans with PTSD symptoms displayed reduced lnHF-HRV, even when adjusting for respiration, but their partners did not. In mediational analyses, elevated resting HR in PTSD was accounted for by lnHF-HRV but not PEP. Results strengthen evidence regarding HF-HRV and elevated HR in PTSD.

Incorporating physiology into the study of psychotherapy process.

Increasing evidence indicates that psychological factors important to therapy effectiveness are associated with physiological activity. Knowledge of the physiological correlates of therapy process variables has the potential to provide unique insights into how and why therapy works, but little is currently known about the physiological underpinnings of specific therapy processes that facilitate client growth and change. The goal of this article is to introduce therapy process researchers to the use of physiological methods for studying therapy process variables. We do this by (a) presenting a conceptual framework for the study of therapy process variables, (b) providing an introductory overview of physiological systems with particular promise for the study of therapy process variables, (c) introducing the primary methods and methodological decisions involved in physiological research, and (d) demonstrating these principles and methods in a case of therapeutic presence during couple therapy. We close with a discussion of the promise and challenges in the study of physiological correlates of therapy process variables and consideration of future challenges and open questions in this line of research. Online supplemental materials include additional resources for therapy process researchers interested in getting started with physiological research. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Is it me or you? Marital conflict behavior and blood pressure reactivity.

Cardiovascular reactivity (CVR), such as increases in blood pressure, during stressful marital interactions have been identified as a possible mechanism linking marital discord with cardiovascular disease (CVD). Both expressions of and exposure to negative behavior during marital conflict may influence CVR, but analytic approaches to date have not permitted firm conclusions as to whether CVR during conflict reflects an individual's own actions, actions of the spouse, or both. Additionally, evidence suggests health-relevant marital interaction varies along the affiliation dimension (i.e., warmth vs. hostility) and control dimension (i.e., dominance vs. submissiveness) of social behavior, but there is much less research on the latter. To address these issues, the present study used the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model (APIM) to examine associations of behavioral measures of affiliation and control with concurrent changes in blood pressure (i.e., CVR) during a marital conflict discussion in 146 middle-aged couples. Factor analyses of observer-coded behaviors during conflict discussions revealed a single factor for husbands and for wives, characterized by high hostility and dominance, and low warmth. The validity of these behavioral factors was supported by their predicted associations with spouse ratings of behavior during the conflict discussions, concurrent increases in anger, and reports of overall marital quality. Although expression of and exposure to negative conflict behaviors were correlated, only expression independently predicted increases in blood pressure. Exposure to negative partner behavior might alter other elements of physiological burden contributing to CVD risk, but the individual's own behavioral expressions are more closely associated with concurrent blood pressure reactivity. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

A multivariate dynamic systems model for psychotherapy with more than one client.

The dynamics of the give and take between therapist and client(s) is frequently of interest to therapy process researchers. Characterizing the ways that therapists respond to clients and clients respond to therapists can be challenging in therapeutic encounters involving a single therapist and a single client. The complexity of this challenge increases as the number of people involved in a therapeutic encounter increases not only because there are more people responding to one another but also because the patterns of responding can become more complex. This manuscript demonstrates how dyadic cross-lagged panel models can be extended to psychotherapeutic encounters involving 3 people and used to test processes that exist between dyadic subsets of the larger group as well as the group as one cohesive unit. Three hundred seventy-nine talk turns of fundamental frequency from a couple therapy session were modeled using 3 dyadic cross-lagged panel models, and each individual's respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) was treated as a moderator. Although the regression coefficients for each dyadic subset (e.g., therapist-husband) were nonsignificant, an eigenvalue/eigenvector decomposition of the regression coefficients from the 3 dyadic cross-lagged panel models suggests that interdependence exists at the level of the whole group (i.e., therapist-husband-wife) rather than between pairs of individuals within the group (e.g., husband-wife). Further, an interaction involving husband's RSA suggested that interdependence involving the husband ceased when the husband displayed greater regulatory effort. This combination of statistical methods allows for clearly distinguishing between dyadic therapeutic processes and group-level therapeutic processes. (PsycINFO Database Record