Interaction of alcohol placebo, attention, and social anxiety

Abstract

The current study examined the interaction of alcohol placebo, attentional load, and anxious anticipation of an upcoming social stressor in terms of RSA, electromyographic startle response, tonic skin conductance, and self-reported anxiety. Results revealed increases in RSA, skin conductance, and startle response from the baseline condition to the experimental condition. Additionally, group differences were observed in terms of RSA but not in skin conductance or startle response. Pairwise comparisons based on a-priori hypotheses revealed that differences in change scores from baseline to experimental session were significant for the Placebo + Distract and Control + Distract groups but not for the Placebo + Anticipate or the Control + Anticipate groups. That is, the Placebo + Distract group evinced significantly more heart rate variability (indicative of lower anxiety) during the experimental session as compared to the Control + Distract group. However, the Placebo + Anticipate group did not demonstrate the same decreases in anxiety in comparison to the Control + Anticipate group. Taken together, it appears that there may be an anxiolytic benefit of alcohol placebo for individuals who are distracted from anticipating an upcoming social stressor but not for those who are attending to the anticipation of a social stressor. The current results suggest that individuals experiencing cognitive processes associated with social anxiety disorder (anticipatory processing) may experience less reduction in anxiety from the placebo effects of alcohol as compared to those not engaging in cognitive processes associated with social anxiety disorder.