Abstract
Background: Little is known about the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis response
to acute stressful behavioral challenges in patients with social phobia.
Methods: Eighteen patients with social phobia and 17 normal volunteers participated
in two behavioral stressors: a speech task and physical exercise.
Results: Normal volunteers (n = 14) demonstrated a significant 50% increase in salivary
cortisol levels to the speech task. Three nonresponding normal volunteers demonstrated
a 17% decrease. In contrast, patients with social phobia demonstrated dichotomous
changes. Seven social phobia patients demonstrated a significantly higher 90% increase
in salivary cortisol to the speech task, whereas the remaining patients (n = 11) were
nonresponders demonstrating a 32% decrease in cortisol. Both patient groups were significantly
more anxious than the normal volunteers. In contrast to the response to a speech task,
social phobics showed a cortisol response to physical exercise of similar magnitude
as normal volunteers.
Conclusions: The results indicated dichotomies in magnitude and in distribution of
the cortisol response to a speech task between social phobia patients and normal volunteers.
Social phobia patients responded differently than normal volunteers to a stressor
associated with social evaluation but not to physical exercise. These results suggest
adaptation of distinct biological processes specific to different stressful conditions
in social phobia.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
December 6,
2000
Received in revised form:
November 20,
2000
Received:
May 17,
2000
Identification
Copyright
© 2001 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
