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: Michael Kellner, Alexander Yassouridis, Christoph Muhtz, Klaus Wiedemann
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications 2024-12-01
Series:Indian Journal of Psychiatry
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.lww.com/10.4103/indianjpsychiatry.indianjpsychiatry_566_24
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author Michael Kellner
Alexander Yassouridis
Christoph Muhtz
Klaus Wiedemann
author_facet Michael Kellner
Alexander Yassouridis
Christoph Muhtz
Klaus Wiedemann
author_sort Michael Kellner
collection DOAJ
description 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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language English
publishDate 2024-12-01
publisher Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications
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series Indian Journal of Psychiatry
spelling doaj-art-617b78eb3d054900a80d33a0f69f4ff32025-01-07T06:32:29ZengWolters Kluwer Medknow PublicationsIndian Journal of Psychiatry0019-55451998-37942024-12-0166121150115310.4103/indianjpsychiatry.indianjpsychiatry_566_24Within-session habituation and salivary cortisol during exposure treatment in obsessive-compulsive disorder – A link and an influence of DHEA?Michael KellnerAlexander YassouridisChristoph MuhtzKlaus WiedemannBackground: 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.https://journals.lww.com/10.4103/indianjpsychiatry.indianjpsychiatry_566_24cortisoldheaexposurehabituationocd
spellingShingle Michael Kellner
Alexander Yassouridis
Christoph Muhtz
Klaus Wiedemann
Within-session habituation and salivary cortisol during exposure treatment in obsessive-compulsive disorder – A link and an influence of DHEA?
Indian Journal of Psychiatry
cortisol
dhea
exposure
habituation
ocd
title Within-session habituation and salivary cortisol during exposure treatment in obsessive-compulsive disorder – A link and an influence of DHEA?
title_full Within-session habituation and salivary cortisol during exposure treatment in obsessive-compulsive disorder – A link and an influence of DHEA?
title_fullStr Within-session habituation and salivary cortisol during exposure treatment in obsessive-compulsive disorder – A link and an influence of DHEA?
title_full_unstemmed Within-session habituation and salivary cortisol during exposure treatment in obsessive-compulsive disorder – A link and an influence of DHEA?
title_short Within-session habituation and salivary cortisol during exposure treatment in obsessive-compulsive disorder – A link and an influence of DHEA?
title_sort within session habituation and salivary cortisol during exposure treatment in obsessive compulsive disorder a link and an influence of dhea
topic cortisol
dhea
exposure
habituation
ocd
url https://journals.lww.com/10.4103/indianjpsychiatry.indianjpsychiatry_566_24
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