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Impact of Comorbid Depressive Disorders on Subjective and Physiological Responses to Emotion in Generalized Anxiety Disorder

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Abstract

Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and unipolar depressive disorders (UDD) have been shown to differ from each other in dimensions of affective functioning despite their high rates of comorbidity. We showed emotional film clips to a community sample (n = 170) with GAD, GAD with secondary UDD, or no diagnosis. Groups had comparable subjective responses to the clips, but the GAD group had significantly lower heart rate variability (HRV) during fear and after sadness, compared to controls. While HRV in the GAD and control groups rose in response to the sadness and happiness clips, it returned to baseline levels afterwards in the GAD group, potentially indicating lesser ability to sustain attention on emotional stimuli. HRV in the GAD + UDD group changed only in response to sadness, but was otherwise unvarying between timepoints. Though preliminary, these findings suggest comorbid UDD as a potential moderator of emotional responding in GAD.

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Funding

This study was not funded by any source.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The University of Arizona, 1503 East University Boulevard, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA

    Saren H. Seeley

  2. Department of Psychology, Hunter College, City University of New York, 695 Park Avenue, HN742, New York, NY, 10065, USA

    Douglas S. Mennin

  3. The Graduate Center, City University of New York, 365 5th Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, USA

    Douglas S. Mennin

  4. Ohio State University, 1835 Neil Avenue, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA

    Amelia Aldao

  5. University of Washington, 3939 University Way NE, Seattle, WA, 98105, USA

    Katie A. McLaughlin

  6. University of South Florida, 4202 East Fowler Avenue, Tampa, FL, 33620, USA

    Jonathan Rottenberg

  7. Kent State University, 226 Kent Hall Annex, Kent, OH, 44242, USA

    David M. Fresco

Authors
  1. Saren H. Seeley
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  2. Douglas S. Mennin
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  3. Amelia Aldao
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  4. Katie A. McLaughlin
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  5. Jonathan Rottenberg
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  6. David M. Fresco
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Douglas S. Mennin.

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Conflict of Interest

Saren H. Seeley, Douglas S. Mennin, Amelia Aldao, Katie A. McLaughlin, Jonathan Rottenberg, and David M. Fresco declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Animal Rights

No animal studies were carried out by the authors for this article.

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Seeley, S.H., Mennin, D.S., Aldao, A. et al. Impact of Comorbid Depressive Disorders on Subjective and Physiological Responses to Emotion in Generalized Anxiety Disorder. Cogn Ther Res 40, 290–303 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-015-9744-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-015-9744-y

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