Journal
BIOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY
Volume 93, Issue 2, Pages 296-303Publisher
ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2013.02.014
Keywords
Trauma; PTSD; Social information processing; Relationship satisfaction
Funding
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) [K12 HD055882]
- National Center for Research Resources (NCRR)
- National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), components of the National Institutes of Health [UL1 RR033184]
- NCRR [P51 RR000167]
- Research Facilities Improvement Program [RR15459-01, RR020141-01]
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Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with problems in intimate relationships, partly due to deficits in social cognition. In this study, the role of arginine vasopressin (AVP) in the link between PTSD and partner-specific social cognition was examined. Participants were 24 individuals from 12 heterosexual couples in which at least one partner exhibited clinically significant PTSD symptoms. Attention to partner expressions of anger was examined as an indicator of distress and need for affiliative behaviors to repair the relationship bond. AVP administration improved the speed of men's attentional engagement with their partners' expressions of anger and alleviated the negative impact of PTSD on this social cognitive process. Further, men's morning urinary AVP levels were negatively correlated with their PTSD severity. No such effects were found among women or for attention to unfamiliar men's or women's anger expressions. Thus, the AVP system may function in the relationship problems associated with PTSD. (C) 2013 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.
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