TY - JOUR
T1 - Interpersonal Emotion Dynamics in Couples with Somatic Symptom Disorder
T2 - Dyadic Coherence in Facial Temperature during Emotional Interactions
AU - Okur Güney, Zeynep Emine
AU - Cardone, Daniela
AU - Sattel, Heribert
AU - Ariens, Sigert
AU - Witthöft, Michael
AU - Merla, Arcangelo
AU - Kuppens, Peter
AU - Henningsen, Peter
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - Objective Disturbances in emotional processes are commonly reported in patients with a somatic symptom disorder (SSD). Although emotions usually occur in social interactions, little is known about interpersonal emotion dynamics of SSD patients during their actual emotional encounters. This study examined physiological coherence (linkage) between SSD patients and their partners, and in healthy couples during their emotional interactions. Secondarily, we explored group-level relationships between participants' and their partners' subjective affect. Methods Twenty-nine romantic couples (16 healthy and 13 SSD patient-couples) underwent a dyadic conversation task with neutral and anger-eliciting topics followed by a guided relaxation. Partners' cutaneous facial temperature was recorded simultaneously by functional infrared thermal imaging. Immediately after each condition, participants reported on their pain intensity, self-affect, and perceived partner-affect. Results Emotional conditions and having a partner with an SSD significantly affected coherence amplitude on the forehead (F(2,54) = 4.95, p =.011) and nose tip temperature (F(2,54) = 3.75, p =.030). From baseline to anger condition, coherence amplitude significantly increased in the patient-couples, whereas it decreased in the healthy couples. Correlation changes between partners' subjective affect comparably accompanied the changes in physiological coherence in healthy and patient-couples. Conclusions Inability to reduce emotional interdependence in sympathetic activity and subjective affect during a mutual conflict observed in SSD patient-couples seems to capture emotion co-dysregulation. Interventions should frame patients' emotional experiences as embodied and social. Functional infrared thermal imaging confirms to be an ecological and reliable method for examining autonomic changes in interpersonal contexts. Registration Page: https://osf.io/8eyjr
AB - Objective Disturbances in emotional processes are commonly reported in patients with a somatic symptom disorder (SSD). Although emotions usually occur in social interactions, little is known about interpersonal emotion dynamics of SSD patients during their actual emotional encounters. This study examined physiological coherence (linkage) between SSD patients and their partners, and in healthy couples during their emotional interactions. Secondarily, we explored group-level relationships between participants' and their partners' subjective affect. Methods Twenty-nine romantic couples (16 healthy and 13 SSD patient-couples) underwent a dyadic conversation task with neutral and anger-eliciting topics followed by a guided relaxation. Partners' cutaneous facial temperature was recorded simultaneously by functional infrared thermal imaging. Immediately after each condition, participants reported on their pain intensity, self-affect, and perceived partner-affect. Results Emotional conditions and having a partner with an SSD significantly affected coherence amplitude on the forehead (F(2,54) = 4.95, p =.011) and nose tip temperature (F(2,54) = 3.75, p =.030). From baseline to anger condition, coherence amplitude significantly increased in the patient-couples, whereas it decreased in the healthy couples. Correlation changes between partners' subjective affect comparably accompanied the changes in physiological coherence in healthy and patient-couples. Conclusions Inability to reduce emotional interdependence in sympathetic activity and subjective affect during a mutual conflict observed in SSD patient-couples seems to capture emotion co-dysregulation. Interventions should frame patients' emotional experiences as embodied and social. Functional infrared thermal imaging confirms to be an ecological and reliable method for examining autonomic changes in interpersonal contexts. Registration Page: https://osf.io/8eyjr
KW - couples
KW - functional infrared thermal imaging
KW - interpersonal emotion dynamics
KW - physiological linkage
KW - somatic symptom disorder
KW - wavelet coherence analysis
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85124497480&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1097/PSY.0000000000001032
DO - 10.1097/PSY.0000000000001032
M3 - Article
C2 - 34654022
AN - SCOPUS:85124497480
SN - 0033-3174
VL - 84
SP - 188
EP - 198
JO - Psychosomatic Medicine
JF - Psychosomatic Medicine
IS - 2
ER -
