Within-session habituation and salivary cortisol during exposure treatment in obsessive-compulsive disorder – A link and an influence of DHEA?
Background: Glucocorticoids increase fear extinction in preclinical and human studies. Endogenous cortisol might influence who will benefit from exposure therapy in anxiety-spectrum disorders. Methods: To investigate the impact of cortisol levels on within-session habituation of distress – a measure...
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| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications
2024-12-01
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| Series: | Indian Journal of Psychiatry |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://journals.lww.com/10.4103/indianjpsychiatry.indianjpsychiatry_566_24 |
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| Summary: | Background:
Glucocorticoids increase fear extinction in preclinical and human studies. Endogenous cortisol might influence who will benefit from exposure therapy in anxiety-spectrum disorders.
Methods:
To investigate the impact of cortisol levels on within-session habituation of distress – a measure of success of exposure therapy – in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) fifty-one OCD patients were studied during their stressful first cognitive-behavioral exposure therapy session with response prevention. Subjective units of distress, salivary cortisol, and salivary dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) were measured repeatedly before and during this afternoon session.
Results:
No significant association of within-session habituation of distress and cortisol level during exposure was found. Calculating with the cortisol/DHEA ratio, similar results emerged.
Conclusion:
Studies using endogenous diurnal fluctuation of cortisol and studies with administration of exogenous cortisol are needed to test whether glucocorticoids can augment exposure session outcome. |
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| ISSN: | 0019-5545 1998-3794 |