Anxiety sensitivity and response to hyperventilation challenge: physiologic arousal, interoceptive acuity, and subjective distress.

Twenty-four female undergraduates, 12 high on anxiety sensitivity and 12 low on anxiety sensitivity, were subjected to a hyperventilation challenge task. Physiologic and subjective measures of arousal and distress were obtained before, during, and after the hyperventilation challenge. Alternating between the eight 15-second intervals of hyperventilation, participants engaged in a heartbeat-tracking task for eight 10-second intervals to assess interoceptive acuity. Although the hyperventilation challenge produced phase main effects for physiologic arousal, and group and time main effects for subjective distress, there were no significant interaction effects. Results revealed no significant interoceptive acuity differences across the low and high anxiety sensitivity groups. However, subjective ratings of physiological sensations during hyperventilation were significantly greater for the high anxiety sensitivity group. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that anxiety sensitivity accounted for additional variance beyond trait anxiety in explaining subjective ratings of arousal and distress in this nonclinical sample in response to a hyperventilation challenge.

The Keane PTSD Scale extracted from the MMPI: sensitivity and specificity with Vietnam veterans.

A study was conducted to further investigate whether the Keane Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Scale of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) can be employed as a separate instrument administered outside the context of the full MMPI. A group of Vietnam combat veterans with diagnosed PTSD and two comparison groups of veterans without PTSD (Vietnam combat and era veterans) were diagnosed by clinical interviews. Over 84% of the 64 veterans in the study were accurately classified by the Keane PTSD Scale into their original diagnostic groups. Excellent test sensitivity was demonstrated, with 90% of combat veterans with PTSD being properly classified by the Keane PTSD Scale when the recommended cutoff score of 30 was utilized. The clinical and research implications are discussed.

Reactivity to smoking cues: mediating roles of nicotine dependence and duration of deprivation.

This study examined the roles of nicotine dependence and duration of smoking deprivation as mediators of smoking cue reactivity in 117 individuals enrolled in treatment. Participants were randomly assigned to 15, 90, or 180 min of deprivation; all were exposed to smoking cues (observing a research assistant smoke a cigarette) while a variety of self-report, behavioral, and psychophysiological measurements were obtained. Results indicated that in general, psychophysiological reactivity to smoking-relevant cues was greater with increasing deprivation; heart rate analysis revealed an interaction between nicotine dependence and duration of deprivation. Smoking desire, negative affect, physical withdrawal symptoms, and other ratings were interrelated during cue exposure, and generally demonstrated predicted relationships with the independent variables. Multiple regression analysis revealed that desire to smoke during cue exposure was predicted by a combination of psychophysiological, self-report, and demographic variables. These findings have implications for methodological considerations and theoretical underpinnings of smoking cue reactivity research.