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postgraduate thesis: Relationships between respiratory sinus arrhythmia and anxiety
Title | Relationships between respiratory sinus arrhythmia and anxiety |
---|---|
Authors | |
Issue Date | 2018 |
Publisher | The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong) |
Citation | Ng, S. K. C. [吳嘉朝]. (2018). Relationships between respiratory sinus arrhythmia and anxiety. (Thesis). University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong SAR. |
Abstract | Anxiety disorders are global health concerns. Accurate identification of these
disorders is significant for timely intervention to result in optimum recovery. Current
identification of anxiety disorders relies heavily on self-reports. Incorporation of potential
biological markers in the diagnostic process can complement information from self-reports to
augment the diagnostic accuracy regarding such disorders. According to the literature, both
the polyvagal theory and neurovisceral integration model posit that cardiac vagal tone is
essential for adaptive emotion regulation, which can be reflected by respiratory sinus
arrhythmia (RSA), a proxy measure of the cardiac vagal tone. There are different indices of
RSA, namely baseline resting RSA (resting condition) and RSA reactivity (elicited by stress).
Also, the profile of RSA can be in a suppression or augmentation pattern. Given the fact that
emotion dysregulation is one of the precipitating factors of anxiety disorders and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) is a proxy measure of the cardiac vagal tone, understanding the
relationship between emotion regulation and RSA will enable important insights into the
identification and pathophysiological mechanism of anxiety disorders to be made.
This thesis contains reports on two studies. Study 1 investigated the relationship
between RSA and panic disorder. Twenty patients diagnosed with panic disorder and 13 agematched
healthy controls participated in this study. Their RSA at resting condition was
measured. Besides, their RSA reactivity patterns were assessed by an acute stress induction
protocol by the Montreal Imaging Stress Test (MIST). The results showed that, relative to
the controls, the clinical participants had a significantly lower resting RSA but similar RSA
reactivity. While the RSA reactivity profile of the controls showed suppression during the
stress induction process, that of patients was characterized by continual augmentation across
all experimental conditions. The RSA indices of patients were also compared to 124 healthy
young adults participating in Study 2 of the present project. Again, the patients had a
significantly lower resting RSA than the healthy young adults. The RSA reactivity of
patients was also significantly lower. More strikingly, their direction of reactivity was
opposite to that of young adult controls. The key observation was that resting RSA could
distinguish patients with panic disorder, and RSA augmentation in response to stress may
also mark the difference from healthy controls. This supported the potential value of RSA
assessment as a clinical tool for the identification of anxiety disorders.
Study 2 investigated the relationship between emotion regulation strategies and RSA.
One hundred and twenty-four healthy young adults were assessed for the habitual use of
cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression as emotion regulation strategies. It was
found that cognitive reappraisal marginally mediates the relationship between resting RSA after going through the experimental stressor and anxiety level of the past one week.
However, this mediation role could only be found in participants with a RSA suppression
profile but not in those with a RSA augmentation profile. The mediation role of emotion
regulation strategy found between RSA and anxiety enhanced the understanding of how
cardiac vagal tone affects the use of regulatory strategies and the physiological limitation for
individuals who may not be good at implementing it. The findings of the present project
show that RSA assessment could enhance the diagnostic process of anxiety disorders. It may
also facilitate psychological intervention through matching the emotion regulation strategy
with the physiological condition.
|
Degree | Doctor of Psychology |
Subject | Anxiety Arrhythmia |
Dept/Program | Clinical Psychology |
Persistent Identifier | http://hdl.handle.net/10722/279605 |
DC Field | Value | Language |
---|---|---|
dc.contributor.author | Ng, Samuel Ka Chiu | - |
dc.contributor.author | 吳嘉朝 | - |
dc.date.accessioned | 2019-11-04T09:03:39Z | - |
dc.date.available | 2019-11-04T09:03:39Z | - |
dc.date.issued | 2018 | - |
dc.identifier.citation | Ng, S. K. C. [吳嘉朝]. (2018). Relationships between respiratory sinus arrhythmia and anxiety. (Thesis). University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong SAR. | - |
dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10722/279605 | - |
dc.description.abstract | Anxiety disorders are global health concerns. Accurate identification of these disorders is significant for timely intervention to result in optimum recovery. Current identification of anxiety disorders relies heavily on self-reports. Incorporation of potential biological markers in the diagnostic process can complement information from self-reports to augment the diagnostic accuracy regarding such disorders. According to the literature, both the polyvagal theory and neurovisceral integration model posit that cardiac vagal tone is essential for adaptive emotion regulation, which can be reflected by respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), a proxy measure of the cardiac vagal tone. There are different indices of RSA, namely baseline resting RSA (resting condition) and RSA reactivity (elicited by stress). Also, the profile of RSA can be in a suppression or augmentation pattern. Given the fact that emotion dysregulation is one of the precipitating factors of anxiety disorders and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) is a proxy measure of the cardiac vagal tone, understanding the relationship between emotion regulation and RSA will enable important insights into the identification and pathophysiological mechanism of anxiety disorders to be made. This thesis contains reports on two studies. Study 1 investigated the relationship between RSA and panic disorder. Twenty patients diagnosed with panic disorder and 13 agematched healthy controls participated in this study. Their RSA at resting condition was measured. Besides, their RSA reactivity patterns were assessed by an acute stress induction protocol by the Montreal Imaging Stress Test (MIST). The results showed that, relative to the controls, the clinical participants had a significantly lower resting RSA but similar RSA reactivity. While the RSA reactivity profile of the controls showed suppression during the stress induction process, that of patients was characterized by continual augmentation across all experimental conditions. The RSA indices of patients were also compared to 124 healthy young adults participating in Study 2 of the present project. Again, the patients had a significantly lower resting RSA than the healthy young adults. The RSA reactivity of patients was also significantly lower. More strikingly, their direction of reactivity was opposite to that of young adult controls. The key observation was that resting RSA could distinguish patients with panic disorder, and RSA augmentation in response to stress may also mark the difference from healthy controls. This supported the potential value of RSA assessment as a clinical tool for the identification of anxiety disorders. Study 2 investigated the relationship between emotion regulation strategies and RSA. One hundred and twenty-four healthy young adults were assessed for the habitual use of cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression as emotion regulation strategies. It was found that cognitive reappraisal marginally mediates the relationship between resting RSA after going through the experimental stressor and anxiety level of the past one week. However, this mediation role could only be found in participants with a RSA suppression profile but not in those with a RSA augmentation profile. The mediation role of emotion regulation strategy found between RSA and anxiety enhanced the understanding of how cardiac vagal tone affects the use of regulatory strategies and the physiological limitation for individuals who may not be good at implementing it. The findings of the present project show that RSA assessment could enhance the diagnostic process of anxiety disorders. It may also facilitate psychological intervention through matching the emotion regulation strategy with the physiological condition. | - |
dc.language | eng | - |
dc.publisher | The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong) | - |
dc.relation.ispartof | HKU Theses Online (HKUTO) | - |
dc.rights | The author retains all proprietary rights, (such as patent rights) and the right to use in future works. | - |
dc.rights | This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. | - |
dc.subject.lcsh | Anxiety | - |
dc.subject.lcsh | Arrhythmia | - |
dc.title | Relationships between respiratory sinus arrhythmia and anxiety | - |
dc.type | PG_Thesis | - |
dc.description.thesisname | Doctor of Psychology | - |
dc.description.thesislevel | Doctoral | - |
dc.description.thesisdiscipline | Clinical Psychology | - |
dc.description.nature | published_or_final_version | - |
dc.identifier.doi | 10.5353/th_991044146775603414 | - |
dc.date.hkucongregation | 2019 | - |
dc.identifier.mmsid | 991044146775603414 | - |