Summary
The interaction of anxiety and autonomie activation as a factor in the development and persistency of pathological anxiety was investigated with the aid of self-rating procedures and a habituation experiment. The state of activation was varied systematically in 40 normal subjects by various experimental conditions and by the administration of a tranquilizer.
The degree of anxiety and activation were able to be differentiated in the investigated range of mean attentiveness. Anxious expectancy is perceived in particular as subjective anxiety. Fatigue and sedation, on the other hand, demonstrate subjective and autonomic desactivation. Corresponding differences can be demonstrated for the anxiolytic and sedative effects of tranquilizers. The time course of habituation is a more exact indicator than the amplitude of the orienting response.
Cognitively provoked apprehensiveness, thus, appears to be qualitatively different as compared to psychoautonomically caused anxieties of psychiatric disorders.
Zusammenfassung
Bei 40 Normalpersonen wurde der Aktivationszustand durch unterschiedliche experimentelle Bedingungen und durch Applikation eines Tranquilizers systematisch variiert. Mit Hilfe von Selbstbeurteilungsverfahren und einem psychophysiologischen Habituationsexperiment wurden die Interaktionen von Angst und autonomer Aktivierung untersucht, die Entstehung und Persistenz pathologischer Ängste beeinflussen.
Im untersuchten Aufmerksamkeitsbereich können die Dimensionen Angst und Aktivierung differenziert werden. Eine ängstliche Erwartungshaltung wird bei mittlerem Aktivationsniveau vor allem als subjektive Stimmungsbeeinträchtigung wahrgenommen. Bei Ermüdung und Sedation kommt es dagegen zu subjektiver und autonomer Desaktivierung. Entsprechende Unterschiede lassen sich für die anxiolytischen und sedativen Tranquilizereffekte nachweisen. Medikamentös bedingte Änderungen der Aktivierungslage können durch die Habituationscharakteristik der Orientierungsreaktion genauer erfaßt werden als durch deren Amplitude.
Durch die geringe Koppelung der subjektiven und der autonomen Angstreaktionen unterscheidet sich die kognitiv bestimmte Ängstlichkeit qualitativ von den psychoautonomen geprägten Ängsten psychiatrischer Erkrankungen.
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Strian, F., Klicpera, C. Anxiety, arousal, and autonomic habituation. Arch. Psychiat. Nervenkr. 224, 341–350 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00341616
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00341616