TY - JOUR
T1 - Anxiety and plasma cortisol at the crest of the circadian cycle
T2 - Reappraisal of a classical hypothesis
AU - Curtis, G. C.
AU - Nesse, R.
AU - Buxton, M.
AU - Lippman, D.
PY - 1978/1/1
Y1 - 1978/1/1
N2 - Near-maximal anxiety by subjective and behavioral criteria was evoked and terminated in phobic patients by initiation and termination of rapid live confrontation ('flooding in vivo') with the specific stimulus that each avoided, at a time approximating the crest of the circadian cycle of adrenal cortical function. The procedure was associated with moderate, but not marked, elevations of plasma cortisol above control levels in some, but not all, subjects. Differences in anxiety levels as self-rated by the patients did not account for differences in cortisol response. The findings should stimulate further reevaluation of the hypothesis that affective arousal is the key psychological determinant of adrenal cortical function. Dissociation between subjective-behavioral arousal and plasma cortisol during flooding may be a manifestation of what behavior therapists call 'desynchrony of fear.'
AB - Near-maximal anxiety by subjective and behavioral criteria was evoked and terminated in phobic patients by initiation and termination of rapid live confrontation ('flooding in vivo') with the specific stimulus that each avoided, at a time approximating the crest of the circadian cycle of adrenal cortical function. The procedure was associated with moderate, but not marked, elevations of plasma cortisol above control levels in some, but not all, subjects. Differences in anxiety levels as self-rated by the patients did not account for differences in cortisol response. The findings should stimulate further reevaluation of the hypothesis that affective arousal is the key psychological determinant of adrenal cortical function. Dissociation between subjective-behavioral arousal and plasma cortisol during flooding may be a manifestation of what behavior therapists call 'desynchrony of fear.'
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U2 - 10.1097/00006842-197808000-00002
DO - 10.1097/00006842-197808000-00002
M3 - Article
C2 - 362466
AN - SCOPUS:0018092179
SN - 0033-3174
VL - 40
SP - 368
EP - 378
JO - Psychosomatic Medicine
JF - Psychosomatic Medicine
IS - 5
ER -