12 blood-phobic subjects, selected according to the Feat Survey Schedule and the Mutilation Questionnaire, and 50 control subjects performed a paced respiration task during which heart rate and respiration were recorded. Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia (RSA) was analyzed as an autonomic index of vagal influence on the heart. Analysis showed a larger RSA in the blood-phobic group than the controls and points to a difference in vagal activity at rest between the groups.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
FouadF. M.TaraziR. C.FerrarioC. M.FichalyS.AlicandriC. (1984) Assessment of parasympathetic control of heart rate by a noninvasive method. American Journal of Physiology, 246, H838–H842.
2.
FriedmanB. H.ThayerJ. F.BorkovekT. D.TyrrellR. A.JohnsonB. H.ColumboR. (1993) Autonomic characteristics of nonclinical panic and blood phobia. Biological Psychiatry, 34, 298–310.
GrossmanP. (1992) Respiratory and cardiac rhythms as windows to central and autonomic biobehavioral regulation: Selection of window frames, keeping the panes clean and viewing the neural topography. Biological Psychology, 34, 131–161.
5.
KlormanR.WeertsT. C.HastingsJ. E.MelamedB. G.LangP. J. (1974) Psychometric description of some specific-fear questionnaires. Behaviour Therapy, 5, 401–409.
6.
ÖstL. G.SternerU.LindahlI. L. (1984) Physiological responses in blood phobics. Behavior Research and Therapy, 22, 109–117.
7.
RichardsJ. E. (1995) Reliability of respiratory sinus arrhythmia in R-R intervals, in 14–, 20–, and 26-wk.-old infants. Infant Behavior and Development, 18, 155–161.
8.
SteptoeA.WardleJ. (1988) Emotional fainting and the psychophysiologic response to blood and injury: Autonomic mechanisms and coping strategies. Psychosomatic Medicine, 50, 402–417.
9.
WolpeJ.LangP. J. (1964) A fear schedule for use in behaviour therapy. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 2, 27–30.
