Why the study?
Mental stress is a key factor leading to the development and aggravation of anxiety disorders, motivating a review of publications using physiological responses to assess it.
This scoping review highlights that while physiological markers like heart rate variability and blood pressure are useful for quantifying mental stress, current methods rely heavily on lab-generated data and fixed thresholds that may not generalize to naturalistic settings.
Physiological monitoring may aid anxiety assessment; leaves open standardized protocols and prospective validation.
Anxiety disorder is the most common mental health disorder in the United States. One of the key factors that leads to the development and aggravation of anxiety disorders is mental stress. In this study, we reviewed publications that used physiological responses and symptoms to assess mental stress. This review found that mental stress affects heart rate, hear rate variability, blood pressure, and skin conductance. Fuzzy logic, time series, and Poincare plots are prominent data analysis tools for physiological data. Most studies used a threshold (e.g., Poincaré plot) or variance (e.g., moving average models) to distinguish stress from normal conditions. The variations and thresholds, however, might fluctuate across various activities and individuals. Moreover, most research evaluated lab-generated stress data, which may be biased. Therefore, more naturalistic studies should be conducted for future research.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Ziyadidegan et al. (2022) studied this question.
Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context: