Autonomic Reactivity to Emotional Stimuli in a Transdiagnostic Sample of Psychiatric Patients
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Authors
Gregoire-Mitha, Nadia
Date
2025-07-03
Type
thesis
Language
eng
Keyword
Emotion regulation , ADHD , Bipolar disorder , Borderline personality disorder , Autonomic nervous system , Psychophysiology , Transdiagnostic
Alternative Title
Abstract
Emotion dysregulation (ED), characterized by difficulty adapting to and regulating emotional responses, is increasingly recognized as a transdiagnostic feature of psychopathology. Although the autonomic nervous system is a neurobiological correlate of ED, few studies have examined whether autonomic reactivity (AR) varies with ED severity across diagnostic categories. This pilot study compared 51 healthy adults and 66 adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), bipolar disorder (BD), and/or borderline personality disorder (BPD) on three non-invasive measures of autonomic function: skin conductance response (SCR), heart rate reactivity (HRR), and resting heart rate variability (HRV). Participants passively viewed pleasant, neutral, and unpleasant images from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS) while physiological and subjective (valence and arousal) responses were recorded. ED severity was assessed dimensionally using the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale – 18 (DERS-18). Compared to controls, patients showed lower SCR amplitudes, higher response frequency across stimuli, and reduced HRR to unpleasant images with minimal modulation by valence. Despite these physiological differences, both groups reported similar subjective arousal and valence ratings. Resting HRV did not differ between groups. Across patients, greater ED severity was associated with lower resting HRV and reduced HRR differentiation but not with SCR measures. Taken together, these findings highlight altered autonomic patterns in a transdiagnostic clinical sample, with HRR and HRV more closely reflecting ED severity than electrodermal or stimulus-level subjective responses. Further research should clarify the neural and behavioural mechanisms underlying these patterns and examine whether targeting autonomic function can improve emotion regulation in larger, transdiagnostic cohorts.
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Intellectual Property Guidelines at Queen's University
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Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International