The anxiogenic video-recorded Stroop Color-Word Test: psychological and physiological alterations and effects of diazepam

From among the few human experimental models that can be used to predict the clinical activity of new anxiolytic drugs, the video-recorded Stroop Color-Word Test (VRSCWT), which uses subjective scales to evaluate anxious states, is notable for its simplicity. However, considering that the choice of treatment for anxiety disorders is heavily dependent on the level of somatic symptomatology, a quantitative evaluation of the physiological alterations elicited by the anxiogenic situation of the VRSCWT would also be of great interest. In the present study, 36 healthy male and female volunteers were submitted to either the VRSCWT or to a nonanxiogenic test. The results showed that, as well as a sensation of anxiety, the VRSCWT elicited increases in heart rate and gastrocnemius tension. Subsequently, a further 48 healthy men and women were randomly assigned to three treatments: placebo, 5 and 10 mg of diazepam, and were submitted to the VRSCWT. The results showed that in men, diazepam blocked the feeling of anxiety elicited by the test, although it did not prevent the physiological alterations, while in women, there was no response to the anxiolytic action of the drug. Taken as a whole, these results suggest that the VRSCWT is an efficient method of inducing anxiety experimentally. It is able to elicit observable psychological and physiological alterations and can detect the blocking, by an anxiolytic, of the feelings of anxiety in healthy men. Furthermore, the results suggest that the neural pathways for the control of the psychological and physiological manifestations of anxiety may be separate. This study also draws attention to the fact that gender is an important variable in the evaluation of anxiolytic drugs. (C) 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.