The clenching-grinding spectrum and fear circuitry disorders: clinical insights from the neuroscience/paleoanthropology interface.

This review discusses the clenching-grinding spectrum from the neuropsychiatric/neuroevolutionary perspective. In neuropsychiatry, signs of jaw clenching may be a useful objective marker for detecting or substantiating a self-report of current subjective emotional distress. Similarly, accelerated tooth wear may be an objective clinical sign for detecting, or substantiating, long-lasting anxiety.

The STRS (shortness of breath, tremulousness, racing heart, and sweating): A brief checklist for acute distress with panic-like autonomic indicators; development and factor structure.

BACKGROUND: Peritraumatic response, as currently assessed by Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) diagnostic criterion A2, has weak positive predictive value (PPV) with respect to PTSD diagnosis. Research suggests that indicators of peritraumatic autonomic activation may supplement the PPV of PTSD criterion A2. We describe the development and factor structure of the STRS (Shortness of Breath, Tremulousness, Racing Heart, and Sweating), a one page, two-minute checklist with a five-point Likert-type response format based on a previously unpublished scale.

Stressful experiences in children and adolescents: initial report from the PSEI-NCPV Honolulu Study.

As part of a federal study on the biology of stress and resilience, a comprehensive, structured stress-history interview (PSEI-NCPV) was administered to 307 participants recruited in Honolulu. A moderate correlation between childhood stress and current depression was found. A relatively high rate of "severe bullying/hazing," and a high mean stress-intensity rating for "blood-drawing induced anxiety" call for further research.