Physiologic reactivity to startling tones in women with posttraumatic stress disorder

Autonomic and eyeblink reactivity to startling tones were investigated in w omen with histories of childhood sexual abuse (CSA). Twenty-one women with current posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), 23 with lifetime but not curr ent PTSD, and 13 women who never had PTSD listened to 15 95-dB, 500-ms, 100 0-Hz tones with a 0-ms rise time while heart rate (HR), skin conductance (S C), and orbicularis oculi electromyogram (EMG) responses were measured. Par ticipants in the current and lifetime PTSD groups produced larger HR respon ses across tones and showed slower absolute habituation of SC response magn itude compared with the never PTSD group. EMG response magnitudes did not d iffer among groups. Women with CSA-related PTSD showed increased autonomic reactivity and slower habituation to high-intensity tones similar to that o bserved in primarily male, combat PTSD samples. This suggests that heighten ed autonomic responsivity to startling stimuli in PTSD is not gender or eve nt specific.