Reduced heart rate variability in chronic alcohol abuse: relationship with negative mood, chronic thought suppression, and compulsive drinking

• Published in: Biological psychiatry (1969) Vol. 54; no. 12; pp. 1427 - 1436
• Main Authors: Ingjaldsson, Jon T, Laberg, Jon C, Thayer, Julian F
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY Elsevier Inc 15.12.2003; Elsevier Science
• Subjects: Addictive behaviors; Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Affect - drug effects; Alcohol Drinking; Alcoholism; Alcoholism - complications; Alcoholism - physiopathology; Alcoholism - psychology; Analysis of Variance; Biological and medical sciences; craving; Cue reactivity; Female; Heart Rate - drug effects; Heart Rate - physiology; heart rate variability; Humans; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Obsessive Compulsive Drinking Scale; Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder - complications; Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder - physiopathology; Personality Inventory; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychometrics; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Repression, Psychology; Surveys and Questionnaires; Thinking - drug effects; thought suppression; White Bear Thought Suppression Inventory; White Bear Thought Suppression Inventory; craving; Cue reactivity; heart rate variability; Obsessive Compulsive Drinking Scale; thought suppression; Human; Statistical analysis; Questionnaire; Pathophysiology; Alcoholism; Craving; Variability; Exploration; Heart rate; Alcoholic beverage; Chronic; Food intake; Comparative study
• ISSN: 0006-3223; 1873-2402
• DOI: 10.1016/S0006-3223(02)01926-1

Previous research suggests that heart rate variability (HRV) may be an important factor in various maladaptive psychological conditions. This study was conducted to investigate vagal tone assessed as tonic vagally mediated heart rate variability in alcoholic (n = 49) and control subjects (n = 45). Alcoholic subjects had faster heart rate and lower preimaginary exposure levels of HRV compared with the control group. An increase in HRV was observed in the alcoholic group when subjects were exposed to an imaginary alcohol script. Tonic HRV was found to be related inversely to negative mood and chronic thought suppression and positively to positive mood. Furthermore, the compulsive subscale of the Obsessive Compulsive Drinking Scale (OCDS) was inversely related to HRV during the imaginary alcohol exposure. It is concluded that the findings are in agreement with the neurovisceral integration model of affective regulation, which claims that dysfunctional psychologic states are rooted in an impaired inhibitory mechanism that is associated with low HRV.