Subjective distress and physiological reactivity during anxiety-evoking imagery in social anxiety

Abstract

Anxiety disorders differ in the association between subjective distress and physiological reactivity towards threat. For some anxiety disorders, like Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD), the relationship among emotion responses remains unclear. The current study examines how different components of subjective distress relate to autonomic arousal (Heart Rate, Skin Conductance Levels) and behavioural expressions (startle reflex, corrugator activity) in individuals with SAD symptoms and healthy controls. Thirty-one participants fitting clinical criteria for SAD and 48 healthy controls imagined four types of anxiety-evoking situations (panic, GAD, SAD and animal phobia), while we measured their physiological reactivity. Participants rated the unpleasantness, arousal and fear they experienced during each script. Results showed that the groups did not differ substantially in physiological or subjective responding to anxious imagery, although the SAD group tended to report more fear across scripts. For socially anxious individuals higher Skin Conductance Levels were associated with higher perceived arousal across scripts, but not for controls. Current findings indicate a positive association between perceived and autonomic arousal in individuals with SAD, when imagining anxious situations. This may reflect better perception of bodily signals in social anxiety under certain conditions.