Journal article
Endogenous cortisol reactivity moderates the relationship between fear inhibition to safety signals and posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms
Daniel V Zuj, Matthew A Palmer, Gin S Malhi, Richard A Bryant, Kim L Felmingham
PSYCHONEUROENDOCRINOLOGY | PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD | Published : 2017
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: Posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) are commonly associated with impairments in extinguishing fear to signals previously associated with danger, and also with inhibiting fear to safety signals. Previous studies indicate that PTSS are associated with low cortisol activity, and cortisol is shown to facilitate fear extinction. Few studies have examined the influence of cortisol reactivity on fear extinction in PTSS. METHOD: We used a standardized fear conditioning and extinction paradigm to investigate the relationship between fear extinction and endogenous salivary cortisol activity in participants with high PTSS (n=18), trauma-exposed controls (n=33), and non-trauma-exposed contro..
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Awarded by NHMRC
Funding Acknowledgements
This work was supported by an NHMRC program grant (APP1073041), and an NHMRC project grant to Kim L. Felmingham, Ph.D. (APP1050848).