FACIAL EMG RESPONSES TO COMBAT-RELATED VISUAL-STIMULI IN VETERANS WITH AND WITHOUT POSTTRAUMATIC-STRESS-DISORDER

Veterans with (n = 10) and without (n = 10) posttraumatic stress disor der (PTSD) participated in an exploratory study of facial reactivity t o neutral slides and to slides depicting unpleasant combat-related mat erial that were previously determined to be emotionally evocative. It was found that the zygomaticus major (cheek) masseter Claw), and later al frontalis (forehead) muscles were especially reactive to the combat slides in the veterans with PTSD, suggesting the importance of facial emotional expression in this disorder: The PTSD participants' self-re ports of overall distress paralleled these effects. However autonomic reactivity did not reflect general arousal effects due to the visual s timuli, showing both the sensitivity of facial muscle assessment in th is context and the need for further research on the relationship betwe en stimulus modality and physiological trauma reactions. Additional di rections for research in this area are discussed including efforts to correlate subjective and physiological reactions.