 |
|
Cognitive Modulation of the Endocrine Stress Response to a Pharmacological Challenge in Normal and Panic Disorder Subjects
James L. Abelson, MD, PhD;
Israel Liberzon, MD;
Elizabeth A. Young, MD;
Samir Khan, PhD
Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2005;62:668-675.
Context The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis may mediate the deleterious effects of stress on health. It is sensitive to cognitive and emotional aspects of organism-environment interactions, such as familiarity, control, and social support. Scientific study of how such factors moderate human HPA axis activity has been limited. Their relevance to HPA axis disturbances in psychiatric patients is largely unexplored.
Objective To determine whether cognitive manipulation can alter HPA axis activity in laboratory studies and whether patients with panic disorder are differentially sensitive to the manipulated factors.
Design Pharmacological activation paradigm (cholecystokinin-B agonist pentagastrin) by which we examined symptom and endocrine effects on subjects randomly assigned to a standard introduction or a cognitive intervention.
Setting Clinical research center.
Participants Recruited from university clinic and newspaper advertisements. Fourteen patients with panic disorder and 14 controls, individually matched for age and sex.
Intervention Half of each group received a 9-minute cognitive intervention designed to reduce novelty, increase cognitive coping, and provide a sense of control.
Main Outcome Measures Corticotropin (ACTH) and cortisol levels.
Results The cognitive intervention significantly reduced cortisol (P = .02) and ACTH (P = .01) levels, despite pentagastrin’s robust stimulation of both hormones (P<.001). The intervention effect was evident in patients and controls, who did not differ in basal HPA axis activity or response to pentagastrin. They did differ in panic symptom responses, which were unaffected by the intervention, and in ACTH effects of the intervention. Patients’ exaggerated anxiety responses to pentagastrin were normalized by the intervention.
Conclusions Cognitive/emotional manipulation can substantially modulate HPA axis responses to pharmacological activation in humans, and HPA disturbances in panic disorder may be secondary to manipulable cognitive/emotional sensitivities. Further study of such factors as novelty, control, and coping may help clarify the origins of HPA axis disturbance in psychiatric disorders and the mediators linking psychosocial stress to disease.
Author Affiliations: Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health Research Institute, Trauma, Stress and Anxiety Research Group, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES
Paralimbic and Medial Prefrontal Cortical Involvement in Neuroendocrine Responses to Traumatic Stimuli
Liberzon et al.
Am. J. Psychiatry 2007;164:1250-1258.
ABSTRACT
| FULL TEXT
Stress-Induced Hypocortisolemia Diagnosed as Psychiatric Disorders Responsive to Hydrocortisone Replacement
SCHUDER
Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci. 2005;1057:466-478.
ABSTRACT
| FULL TEXT
|
