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Psyiological Arousal and Dissociation in Acute Trauma Victims During Trauma Narratives

journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-17, 07:21 authored by Nixon, RDV, Bryant, RA, Moulds, M, Kim FelminghamKim Felmingham, Mastrodomenico, J
The aim of the present study was to examine whether the finding of suppressed physiological activity in dissociative rape-trauma victims (Griffin, Resick,&Mechanic, 1997) was replicable in a nonsexual assault trauma group. A sample of 17 high-dissociating (HD) participants and 18 low-dissociating (LD) participants who had experienced a motor vehicle accident or physical assault described their trauma while skin conductance, heart rate activity, and self-reported mood were recorded. HD individuals demonstrated a trend for elevated heart rate during the experiment compared with LD participants, but both groups displayed comparable skin-conductance levels. Curve estimation analysis indicated that the two groups had a similar pattern of physiological responding during the trauma narratives. These findings challenge the notion that dissociative reactions are associated with reduced psychophysiological arousal after trauma.

History

Publication title

Journal of Traumatic Stress

Volume

18

Pagination

107-113

ISSN

0894-9867

Department/School

School of Psychological Sciences

Publisher

Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publ

Place of publication

233 Spring St, New York, USA, Ny, 10013

Rights statement

2005 International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies The final publication is available at http://www.springerlink.com

Repository Status

  • Restricted

Socio-economic Objectives

Clinical health not elsewhere classified

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