Emotional Processing in Combat-Related Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A Comparison with Traumatized and Normal Controls
Section snippets
Subjects
Three groups of subjects participated in this study: Vietnam veterans with combat-related PTSD and two control groups with no history of PTSD symptoms. One group of controls had combat experience (combat controls [CC]; n = 11), while the other group was of comparable age and gender but without combat exposure (normal controls [NC]; n = 14; Table 1). We recruited subjects using advertisements in veterans' magazines and newspapers, and posters placed around the medical center and in other
Valence and Arousal
The dimensional (Valence vs. Arousal) scores of emotional responses to all slides differed significantly, with Valence endorsed more than Arousal across all diagnostic groups. Two-way ANOVA (Emotion Dimension × Diagnosis) had a significant effect of emotion dimension, . This is consistent with the findings reported in earlier research using similar experimental paradigms Lang et al. 1993, Reisenzein 1994 in nonclinical subjects,
Discussion
In this first laboratory study that compares emotion responses of subjects with PTSD to control groups both with and without combat experience, all three subject groups reported similar levels of emotional responses across a general set of visual stimuli. This was true for measures of subjective valence and arousal, specific emotions, and visceral and expressive physiological responses. It appeared that the standardized visual stimuli did elicit valid emotional responses from subjects. However,
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