Alterations of autonomic nervous system and HPA axis basal activity and reactivity to acute stress: a comparison of traumatized adolescents and healthy controls.

Alterations in neurobiological stress systems such as the autonomic nervous system (ANS) and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis contribute to the development and maintenance of psychological and behavioral problems after traumatic experiences. Investigating neurobiological parameters and how these relate to each other may provide insight into the complex mechanisms at play. Whereas the preponderance of studies focuses on either the ANS or the HPA axis separately, the current study is the first to evaluate relations between posttraumatic stress and both basal activity during rest and stress reactivity of the ANS as well as the HPA axis in a sample of traumatized adolescents and healthy controls. The traumatized sample (