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Psychophysiological Markers of Fear and Anxiety

  • Anxiety Disorders (A Pelissolo, Section Editor)
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Abstract

Purpose of Review

The purpose of this paper is to provide a current review of the recent literature (2015–2018) on psychophysiological markers of fear and anxiety.

Recent Finding

Relative to healthy controls, fear-based disorders are characterised by heightened physiological reactivity to circumscribe threat salient stimuli, whereas anxiety-related disorders are associated with a more blunted pattern of physiological reactivity.

Summary

Fear and anxiety disorders are marked by abnormal patterns of physiological reactivity, characterised by hyper- and hypo-reactivity in response to stimuli varying in threat salience.

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Notes

  1. We have not investigated neural psychological measures, such as event-related potentials (ERP) or fMRI, although there is substantial research in these areas, it is out of the scope of this article (see [6, 7] for reviews).

  2. For a more detailed review of the definitions and interpretations of various HRV parameters, see [14]

  3. We do not review the evidence for OCD as it is no longer considered an anxiety disorder in the DSM-5, and empirical evidence has been mixed regarding whether it is a fear or distress disorder.

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  1. School of Applied Psychology, Griffith University, Mt. Gravatt, Australia

    Jamiah Hyde, Katherine M. Ryan & Allison M. Waters

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  1. Jamiah Hyde
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Hyde, J., Ryan, K.M. & Waters, A.M. Psychophysiological Markers of Fear and Anxiety. Curr Psychiatry Rep 21, 56 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-019-1036-x

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