Skip to main content
Log in

Mental stress and gastric acid secretion

Do personality traits influence the response?

Digestive Diseases and Sciences Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In 14 healthy male volunteers, we studied the influence of acute mental (=psychological) stress induced by performing mental arithmetic and solving anagrams against a financial reward on endogenously stimulated gastric acid output. Personality factors were determined by the Personality Research Form. Acute mental stress significantly (P<0.05) increased systolic blood pressure (+8.9±2.0 mm Hg±sem) and heart rate (+5.3±1.6 beatslmin). The mean gastric acid output during the mental stress period (17.9±2.7 mmol/32 min) did not significantly differ from pre- (16.9±2.3 mmol/32 min) and poststress (18.1±2.2 mmol/32 min) values. However, detailed analysis revealed that mental stress induced contrary changes of gastric acid output in different subjects. About half the individuals reacted with a decrease (up to 60%) and the other half with an increase (up to 60%) in acid output. In some individuals the changes of gastric acid output were very small. By multiple correlations, impulsivity was identified as the personality trait with the highest correlation coefficient (r=0.82) with changes of gastric acid output during the acute mental stress period. During the mental stress period, gastric acid output increased in subjects with high scores on the impulsivity scale, but significantly decreased in those with low scores. We conclude that (1) there is a great individual variability in gastric acid response to acute mental stress, and (2) this variability may be partly attributed to differences in personality traits.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Beaumont W: Experiments and Observations on the Gastric Juice and the Physiology of Digestion. Plattsburgh, FP Allen, 1833

    Google Scholar 

  2. Bennett TI, Venables J: The effects of the emotions on gastric secretion and motility in the human being. Br Med J 2:662–663, 1920

    Google Scholar 

  3. Wolf S, Wolff HG: An Experimental Study of a Man and His Stomach, 2nd ed. New York, Oxford University Press, 1947

    Google Scholar 

  4. Eichhorn R, Tracktir J: The relationship between anxiety, hypnotically induced emotions and gastric secretion. Gastroenterology 29:422–431, 1955

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Kehoe M, Ironside W: Studies on the experimental evocation of depressive responses using hypnosis II. The influence of depressive responses upon the secretion of gastric acid. Psychosom Med 25:403–419, 1963

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Wittkower E: Zur affektiven Beeinflussbarkeit der Magensekretion. Klin Wochenschr 10:1811–1813, 1931

    Google Scholar 

  7. Heller MH, Levine J, Sohler TP: Gastric acid and normally produced anxiety. Psychosom Med 15:509–512, 1953

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Sonnenberg A, Donga M, Erckenbrecht JF, Wienbeck M: The effect of mental stress induced by noise on gastric acid secretion and mucosal blood flow. Scand J Gastroenterol 19(suppl 89):45–48, 1984

    Google Scholar 

  9. Thompson DG, Richelson E, Malagelada JR: Perturbation of gastric emptying and duodenal motility through the central nervous system. Gastroenterology 82:1200–1206, 1982

    Google Scholar 

  10. Badgley LE, Spiro HM, Senay E: Effect of mental arithmetic on gastric secretion. Psychophysiology 5:633–637, 1969

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Piper DW, Ariotti D, Greig M, Brown R: Chronic duodenal ulcer and depression. Scand J Gastroenterol 15:201–203, 1980

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Magni G, Salmi A, Paterlini A, Merlo A: Psychological distress in duodenal ulcer and acute gastroduodenitis. Dig Dis Sci 27:1081–1084, 1982

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Taylor JA: Drive theory and manifest anxiety. Psychol Bull 53:303–320, 1953

    Google Scholar 

  14. Fordtran JS, Walsh JH: Gastric acid secretion rate and content after eating, results in normal subjects and in patients with duodenal ulcer. J Clin Invest 52:645–657, 1973

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Maxwell V, Eysselein VE, Kleibeuker T, Reedy T, Walsh JH: Glucose perfusion intragastric titration. Dig Dis Sci 29:321–326, 1984

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Izard CE: Patterns of Emotions: A New Analysis of Anxiety and Depression. New York, Academic Press, 1972

    Google Scholar 

  17. Jackson DN: Manual for the Personality Research Form. Goshen, Research Psychologists Press, 1974

    Google Scholar 

  18. Stumpf H, Angleiter A, Wieck T, Jackson P, Beloch Till H: Deutscher Personality Research Form (PRF). Göttingen, Verlag für Psychologie, 1985

    Google Scholar 

  19. Spielberger CD, Gorsuch RL, Lushene RE: Manual of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Palo Alto, California, Consulting Psychologists Press, 1970

    Google Scholar 

  20. Laux L, Glanzmann P, Schaffner P, Spielberger CD: Das State-Trait-Angstinventar. Weinheim, Beltz Testgesellschaft, 1981

    Google Scholar 

  21. Winer BJ: Statistical Principles in Experimental Design. New York, McGraw-Hill, 1971

    Google Scholar 

  22. Elashoff JD: Repeated-measures bioassay with correlated errors and heterogeneous variances: A Monte Carlo study. Biometrics 37:475–482, 1981

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Stacher G: Telemetric and isotope methods of measuring gastric acid secretion, motility, and emptying.In Psychophysiology of the Gastrointestinal Tract. Experimental and Clinical Applications. R Hölzl, R Whitehead (eds). New York, Plenum Press, 1983, pp 173–179

    Google Scholar 

  24. Wolf S, Goodell H, Harold G: Wolff's Stress and Disease, 2nd ed. Springfield Illinois, Charles C Thomas, 1968, p 4

    Google Scholar 

  25. Peters MN, Richardson CT: Stressful life events, acid hypersecretion, and ulcer disease. Gastroenterology 84:114–119, 1983

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  26. Holtmann G, Kriebel R, Singer R, Stäcker KH, Goebell H: Do personality factors modify gastric acid secretion in a stressful situation? Gastroenterology 92:1439, 1987

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Holtmann, G., Kriebel, R. & Singer, M.V. Mental stress and gastric acid secretion. Digest Dis Sci 35, 998–1007 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01537249

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01537249

Key words

Navigation