TITLE:
Implicit Measures of Extreme Psychological Distress in Young Healthy Adults: Cardiac Autonomic Activity and Attentional Bias
AUTHORS:
Ada H. Zohar, Yossi Levi-Belz, Marian Linetzky
KEYWORDS:
HRV, Personality, SNS Index, Attention Bias, Psychological Distress
JOURNAL NAME:
Psychology,
Vol.14 No.11,
November
23,
2023
ABSTRACT: Background: There is research showing that cardiac sympathetic autonomous activity
is elevated and cardiac parasympathetic autonomous activity is decreased in
individuals contending with serious psychopathology. There is also work showing
that attentional bias to emotionally distressing stimuli is affected by
depression and anxiety. This study hypothesized that individuals who were high
on suicide-related attention bias (AB) and cardiac sympathetic activity (SNS
index) would also have elevated psychological distress, even in the absence of a diagnosable disorder. Methods: Participants were 181 healthy college students, 42.5% male. Personality
traits, depression, hopelessness and suicidal ideation/behaviour were
self-reported. Cardiac activity was measured using bodyguard2, and the SNS
index was used as a measure of stress. AB was measured using stimuli salient in
the context of death and suicide. Results: Correlations were in the
expected direction. Cluster analysis using AB and the SNS index produced three
clusters, of which Cluster 3, 19.7% of the sample, had elevated AB and SNS
index, and by far the most distressed psychological profile, above the clinical
cut-off point for depression. Conclusions: The study results indicate a
strong association between objective and subjective measures of distress
uncovered by cluster analysis. Such result may help to identifying a group of
extremely distressed individuals among healthy adults. Individuals with a
distressed personality profile, who are depressed and reject life, can be
distinguished by their cardiac stress and AB.