Stress levels in psychosis: Do body and mind diverge?


Author: Söder E1, Clamor A2, Kempkensteffen J2, Moritz S3, Lincoln TM2

Affiliation: <sup>1</sup>Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, University of Hamburg, Germany. Electronic address: eveline.soeder@studium.uni-hamburg.de.

<sup>2</sup>Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, University of Hamburg, Germany.

<sup>3</sup>Clinic for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Clinic Hamburg-Eppendorf, Germany.
Conference/Journal: Biol Psychol.
Date published: 2018 Aug 21
Other:
  Pages: S0301-0511(18)30329-6   ,  Special Notes: doi: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2018.08.016. [Epub ahead of print]   ,  Word Count: 156  
    Discrepancies between subjective and physiological stress levels may foster the understanding of how stress leads to psychosis. We examined self-reported and physiological stress levels (heart rate, skin conductance level, cortisol level) during two conditions (noise stressor, no stressor) in patients with psychotic disorders (n = 35), patients with depression (n = 30), and healthy controls (n = 28), expecting larger discrepancies between self-reported and physiological stress levels in patients with psychosis than in controls. Difference values were calculated from standardized stress levels. Compared to healthy controls, patients with psychosis showed larger discrepancies between self-reported stress and skin conductance levels and between self-reported stress and cortisol levels. The discrepancies were similar in both patient groups and in both conditions. Paranoid symptoms, emotion awareness and antipsychotic dose were associated with the discrepancies. Future research needs to clarify whether the discrepancies causally contribute to psychotic symptoms or reflect secondary processes.



KEYWORDS: cortisol level; heart rate; psychosis; skin conductance level; stress level



PMID: 30142356  DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2018.08.016